


Feminea Inextensi

by TheHigherDissidency



Series: Feminea Inextensi [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, F/F, Fuck Rowling, MTF Harry Potter, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27638065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHigherDissidency/pseuds/TheHigherDissidency
Summary: It starts with a prank and some spite to the Ministry - a gender swapping potion, courtesy of the Weasley twins, just to mess with people.So, uh, if this was all just some joke, why the hell does it actually feel... Refreshing?Must just be a change of pace.(Trans!Harry Potter fanfic, because I need some catharsis and all the other ones I read update irregularly. I'm no better, but maybe this'll shut me up.)
Relationships: Autumn Potter/Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Series: Feminea Inextensi [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026778
Comments: 205
Kudos: 372





	1. Pranking the Tournament (A Different Way)

**Author's Note:**

> I condemn JK Rowling’s transphobic, inaccurate, and dangerous statements on sex and gender identity. If you agree with her views, please do not read, comment on, or kudo this fanfic. I support the rights of transgender people to be called by their chosen pronouns, respected in their expression of gender, and treated fairly and equally in all things.
> 
> With that out of the way, please acknowledge I do not own Harry Potter or any affliated content, it's all the property of J. K. Rowling. Additionally, the content in this story may contain triggering topics including transphobia (including accidental/intentional misgendering, accidental/intentional deadnaming, transgender discrimination), homophobia, familial child abuse, death, and

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Weasley Twins have an idea for the Fourth Champion. Some product testing, on the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's curious, the story title means Woman's Potion. Cause, like, gender potio-whatever, enjoy hehe!

_**T**_ o say someone or something is a hop, skip, and a jump away means that something is literally nearby, or it can be that doing something will be easy. With that same logic in mind, hop, skip and a jump away sounds almost elegant, with grace. An almost loud and ruckus-inducing hop, skip, and a jump away would likely be bounding, romping, and vaulting. So, to consider this information…

On Friday night, wedged between the Goblet of Fire making a haphazard (at best) declaration, and the fall of night, Fred and George Weasley were only a bound, romp, and a vault away from Harry Potter, trying to get his attention.

“So, Harry, how are ya mate?” Said one, only for the other to pipe up.

“How’s the stress of the tournament?”

Harry looked at the twins, a look of… what could arguably be exhaustion in his eyes, not that the exhaustion was the defining detail. The bags under his eyes, or perhaps the almost insulted look in his face was enough of an indicator to say it was not Harry’s favorite day. The twin on the left had the courtesy to look surprised at this, while the other simply clapped his hands together - gently, since Harry seemed high strung - before speaking.

“You know, can’t say that’s a shocker.”

“What do you two want?” Harry asked, his voice clipped.

“So, we were wondering, me and-” The other started, before getting cut off.

“I didn’t put my name in the Goblet.”

“That’s not what he was gonna say. We were wondering if you wanted to mess around with the Ministry, maybe as some comeuppance for keeping you in the running.” Fred and George looked at Harry, who raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“...Sure?” Harry said, and it was barely a second before the twins had yanked him up and started dragging him down the halls.

“We figured this year would be…”

“Annoying.”

“At best.”

“So we decided to toss ideas at the wall, right?”

“And we managed to find out something kind of… amusing.”

“Gender swap potions are apparently a thing.” The twins ended in unison, stopping dead in their tracks.

“W-what?”

“You know that joke shop we wanna open?”

“We may or may not have stolen this…”

From a bag, out was a pulled book, labelled _Convincing Contortion: A Potions Guide_.

“Stolen from where?” Harry asked, already knowing that the answer was…

“The Restricted Section.”

“Madam Pince was yelling at us, and we nabbed it since the cover looked good.”

The twins sat Harry Potter, turning to a horribly dog-eared page, labelled Gender Potions.

“We figured, you’re in the media enough because you’re the Boy Who Lived,” Onesaid, watching Harry’s grimace at the title. “Like it or not, it’s a title.”

“And it’s not like you want to be IN the Triwizard Tournament…” The other tacked on, “So this could be a big flipped bird to the Ministry.”

"In exchange," The first said, "You become our first ever product tester,"

"And our first customer!"

"It's on the house, to make up for being a trial run."

Harry looked at the twins, then the recipe.

“You can make this?” Harry asked, looking at the complicated recipes.

“If we couldn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now.” Said one twin, grinning.

“We’d likely be in detention, like we’re supposed to be.” The other said with a smirk.

Harry felt a spark of giddy inside him, before looking up. “And it’s safe?” Harry asked, where the twins laughed.

“If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t do it.”

“Well, we would, but we’d be the ones taking it.”

The twins looked at each other.

“You always looked like a Milena to me.”

“Low blow, Meredith.”

“Well we can’t both be M.”

“Geredith, then.”

Harry shook his head. “If you two want. I mean,”

“You can’t deny, it’d be funny.”

“Holly Potter, or whatever name you went with, Triwizard Tournament victor.”

“The Girl Who Lived.”

“There’s a ring to it.”

As if on cue, the sound of a magical ringing could be heard. The twins paled, sheepish.

“Who did you have detention with?”

“Snape, why do you ask?” One said, although the blood loss in his face was answer enough.

“He’s likely gonna be back in a couple minutes.”

“Bet you fifty points we’ll get in there too late.”

“Deal.”

The twins waved by, bolting through the halls - walking in front of every classroom door - around the bend, as the twins tried to messily shove the tome into their bookbag.

Harry looked around.

Well then. That just happened.

* * *

The Weasley Twins did not sleep for a few reasons that night.

One, they never slept. Two, they _never_ slept. Their father introducing the Muggle drink coffee was a dire mistake, as now they needed to only sleep a fraction of what they did before, using the caffeinated beverage to get by. Very dire, considering all of the time the twins wasted on sleep in the prior years could now be spent doing helpful things, like studying.

Or it could be spent planning a joke shop.

Three, the aforementioned joke shop. The current plan was to become the gambling extraordinaires, to acquire the money they needed. There was always a bet to place.

Four, as for the little bit of money they had, they spent it on potion ingredients, swirling the mixture around. The book said that a pastel pink was key, but that a hot pink was equally acceptable, just a bit different.

And the vial in Fred’s hand was a hot pink.

“Do you think he’ll be mad?” He asked George, corking it tightly. It was expensive to restart, but it’s not like this was bad.

“She’ll be mad.” George replied, pulling out some paper scraps to find something.

“Is that a correction, or is that a confirmation?” Fred asked, a twinkle in his eye.

“She’ll be mad.” George replied vaguely. “Now tell me, do you think these are a good product idea?" He asked, passing Fred a piece of paper, who glanced at it before crumpling it into a ball. “I’m taking that as yes.”

* * *

“So, Harry…” Fred said, stopping the mentioned mage from leaving the Gryffindor dormitory.

“We got that done last night, sort of…” George trailed off, holding up the hot pink vial.

“There’s a catch.” Fred said. “We might have dropped the ball, and made an extended version.”

“It’ll last until the end of the school year, instead of just a month or so.”

Harry’s eyes widened, and for a minute the Weasleys thought he was gonna turn the potion down.

“I…” Harry looked at the ground.

“Look, if you don’t want it, that’s fine. Me and George will find someone else, if you want. Maybe Ron could be our first customer.”

“Let’s not tell him what it does then. It’s funnier that way.”

“Wait!” Harry spoke up, and the twins turned. “I’ll…”

“I’ll beat up an ostrich?” “I’ll learn to juggle?”

“I’ll take it.” Harry said, looking at them. “I mean… It’s one school year, right?”

“Yeah…” Fred raised an eyebrow, looking at George. “I expected this to be harder.”

“More guilt tripping about the budget, or something.”

“Budget?”

“Don’t worry your soon-to-be pretty little head over it.” Fred said, practically forcing the hot pink vial into Harry’s hands.

“It was expensive, so we needed to find someone, that’s all.” George clarified, stopping Harry before he could down it. “I’d find someone to keep watch. Maybe Hermione’s available?”

“Why not you two?”

“Well, we have to get to class.” Fred explained.

“It’s Sunday.” Harry pointed out. “You don’t have classes in the morning on Sunday.”

“Class, detention, same difference.” Fred re-explained. “Just be glad we didn’t keep up our bet of fifty house points. Good luck, Harry.”

The two bolting again, whispering to each other almost conspiratorially. Harry simply sighed, just as Hermione walked down the stairs.

“What’s that?” She asked, glancing at the hot pink vial. Harry gave her a quick rundown, where Hermione narrowed her eyes a little.

“Are you positive that’s safe?” She asked, looking at it skeptically. “Or that it won’t just explode?”

Harry nodded.

“And you’re actually going through with this?” Hermione clarified.

A second nod, followed by a sigh.

“Alright then.” She said. “Show me the way.”

So he did.

Exactly six people have exciting memories inside a dilapidated girls’ bathroom. One died, two more nearly died, two more took dangerous potions in there, and the sixth set it all in motion.

So let’s try some happier memories?

Harry and Hermione stood in the girls’ bathroom - Moaning Myrtle seemed to be elsewhere - when Harry uncorked the vial.

“Gimme a second...” Harry asked, stepping into the stall. He didn’t know why he felt so shy and flustered with this idea, but he did.

He downed the vial, and blinked once… Twice… Three ti-

* * *

“Harry? Wake up!”

“Hmmm…?” Harry asked, voice caught on some dry air. Coughing it out, Harry sat up. “Ohh, what happened?”

“You passed out.” Hermione said to Harry, looking slightly worried but also surprised.

“Ooh…. Huh?” Harry said, before noticing a pitch in the words. Eyes widening and standing up quite fast - _oops there’s goes the iron deficiency how reliable_ \- before stepping out into the main section of the bathroom.

For a second, Harry nearly screamed. In front of those very eyes, appeared what seemed to be a younger Lily Potter. It was a beautiful fourteen-year old girl with thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, and the distinctive eyes that Harry recognized as…

_Wait._

Harry yelped at little, startling Hermione.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I, uh, Transfigured your clothes. It was fitting… poorly.” Hermione added, as though the yelp reminded her.

“H-How do I look?” Harry asked, noticing the change in voice. It was more.. Well, feminine.

 _Damn, the twins know what they were doing._ Harry hadn’t doubted them, but for some reason it was still surprising.

“You look really good, actually. Different, but, I mean…” Hermione gestured, the word on her tongue. Beautiful.

Harry smiled a bit, quite surprised at how much she was enjoying this already.

“I s-suppose I should go to class?” Harry asked, and Hermione nodded.

“Before you do…” Hermione said, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out a pen and quill. “You should probably write Sirius about the whole, um, Triwizard Tournament thing.” She said, and Harry sighed.

“He came to Britain because my scar was hurting. I tell him someone’s out to kill me, and he’ll break into the castle again.” Harry said, even though knowing exactly what Hermione was gonna say.

“He’d want you to tell him.”

And so that why Harry was writing a letter to a convicted criminal in the girls’ bathroom with her second best friend, 

> _Dear Sirius_
> 
> _You told me to keep you posted on what’s happening at Hogwarts, so here goes nothing - I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Triwizard Tournament is happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don’t know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn’t. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff._
> 
> _Hope you’re okay, and Buckbeak,_

Harry looked at the end of the letter, which was incomplete.

“Harry?” Hermione asked, snapping Harry back to reality. Harry looked at the letter, uncertain how to sign it for some reason, before quickly jotting down _Harry_.

“Off to c-class, I suppose…?”

Hermione gave Harry a strange look, before getting up and leading Harry out of the bathroom to the owlery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ron was originally in this chapter, but then I remembered that Harry and Ron were on... rocky terms.
> 
> So yeah, chapter one. I'll try to release chapter two within a week.
> 
> This plans to go all the way through to the end of Deathly Hallows, or until I feel the story could naturally end.
> 
> As a transgirl myself, this is kinda three things. Me trying to test and redeem the waters of the series that was my childhood; me trying to step into an old classic domain of mine, and also as a big fuck-you to Rowling.
> 
> Enjoy!


	2. Meet the Blood-Sucking Skeeter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some adjusting is needed, and Rita Skeeter holds a short interview.

It was suddenly dawning on Harry Potter what possible ramifications could come from this joke. It was dawning on Harry, because this might further solidify the idea that this was all for attention. However, for the first time since arriving to the Wizarding World, he was mistaken for someone... normal.

"Macmillan, Finch-Fletchley, and..." Professor Sprout said, looking at the room, "Wait, hold on... Who are you, miss?" Harry felt a giddy spark inside at the title, the glee of... not being recognized, probably.

"Potter." Harry said, and Professor Sprout's eyes widened. "It's complicated." Harry said, and Professor Sprout mouthed something - perhaps the simple word oh - before regaining composure.

"Potter then. Macmillan, Finch-Fletchley, and Potter." Professor Sprout said, and with that final group, the class split into groups of three. Harry realized that the Hufflepuffs were rather cold to the Gryffindors, and for a minute, it was expected that Harry would get the most hate, even from people that was usually on good terms with Harry. It wasn't long before the class with over, and Ron and Hermione kind of fell into pace alongside Harry.

"So, what the bloody hell happened to you, Harry?" Ron asked, and Harry shrugged.

"Fred and George wanted me to do something, to mess with the Ministry. I figured it'd be an interesting change of pace." Harry said, and Hermione didn't seem to correct the lie.

"Huh." Ron said simply, before going off again.

Harry's eyes narrowed, before asking. "Why the hell is he avoiding me?" He either avoids me or asks me why I joined.

Hermione shook her head. "Can't you see? He's jealous of you."

Harry blinked twice, confused, before realizing Hermione meant the tournament and not the potion. "But... I don't want to be in this even? If he wanted to join instead, he could! I'd swap with him!"

Hermione shook her head. "He's jealous because even if you do that, you'll still have the glory. It always you people notice."

As they walked down their way, they arrived at Hagrid's hut for Care for Magical Creatures.

"Oi, where's Potter?" Sneered a familiar face: Draco Malfoy, who was looking straight at Harry. "And who are you, hanging out with this rubbish?" He asked, clearly indicating towards Hermione and Ron.

"Harry Potter." Harry said, to where Draco scowled.

"Yes, Harry Potter. Where is h-" Draco started, when Harry brushed aside a lock of red hair. It took Draco Malfoy about twenty seconds to process this information and reboot, before he looked at Harry with a look of confusion, before hiding it under a sneer.

"Couldn't cut it as a guy, could you Potter?" Draco said, glancing. "Well, I mean, maybe the other competitors will go easy on you. The _real_ champions, I mean." Draco said, before scoffing. "Maybe you'll survive the first task even." He said, but the tone in his voice made it very clear that Harry's survival was something of a worse case scenario. He scoffed, turning on his heel in a flamboyant matter, before getting distracted by the arrival of Hagrid, ready to teach the class.

Harry grimaced at the comments, for some reason stinging more than you'd expect. Hermione seemed to notice this, rubbing Harry's shoulder. "Don't let Malfoy get to you now." She said, looking at Harry.

As Hagrid stepped out, he (re-)introduced the class to blast-ended skrewts. To the class’s dismal dismay, each student was to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely. It also gave Hagrid a moment.

"Eh, 'Arry? Are you there? Can you help me with this one?" Hagrid asked, and when a supposed fourth-year girl raised her hand, he looked at her and seemed caught off-guard. "L-Lily?"

"It's me." Harry said, walking up.

"What happened to you?" Hagrid whispered, as Harry got up in the front.

"It's something for the Weasley twins. A prank on the Ministry." Harry honestly answered, trusting Hagrid to not throw anyone involved under the bus. There were murmurs as people got their skrewts a-walking, and Hagrid simply shrugged.

"So, 'ou're a Champion?" He asked, and Harry nodded. "No idea who put yeh in fer it, Harry?"

“You believe I didn’t do it, then?” said Harry, grateful someone believed it was someone else - Hermione and the twins believed, yes, but a teacher saying it was nice.

"Course I do," Hagrid grunted. "Yeh say it wasn’ you, an’ I believe yeh — an’ Dumbledore believes yer, an’ all."

"Wish I knew who did do it," said Harry bitterly. Moody was probably right - someone was trying to get a death out of this tournament.

The pair of them looked out over the lawn; the class was widely scattered now, and all in great difficulty. The skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. No longer shell-less and colorless, they had developed a kind of thick, grayish, shiny armor. They looked like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs — but still without recognizable heads or eyes. They had become immensely strong and very hard to control.

"Look like they’re havin’ fun, don’ they?" Hagrid said proudly, as the pair watched the classmates having... great difficulty with the skrewts.

“Ah, I don’ know, Harry,” Hagrid sighed worriedly. “School champion . . . everythin’ seems ter happen ter you, doesn’ it?”

Harry couldn't help but agree. _Probably why Ron isn't talking to me either._

Over the next weeks, it was this simple dynamic on a loop. It was akin to when the school hated Harry for supposedly murdering his friends and classmates with the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk. But at least then Ron was on speaking terms with Harry. Here, it was Harry versus everyone, barring a handful of exceptions.

And then, in due time, came the class Harry had been dreading: since the Goblet decided the champions, a first class with Snape, and a double Potions at that.

Harry walked into the class, and Snape merely glared at Harry - who was in fact running late.

"So... You're aware you are _very_ late, correct, Mister Potter." Snape said coldly, Harry flinching at the address. "You're late by almost twenty minutes. As such, I'm taking twenty points from Gryffindor." A groan could be heard from the other Gryffindors, and in the room, Harry saw multiple people - Syhterins making fun with a Potter Stinks badge that said something else as well; Ron looking at Harry with what Hermione was certainly right as jealousy, as well as Hermione, looking lost and confused as to how to deal with Ron or Harry.

Harry started to walk to a seat, but didn't have to wait long for another interruption - in fact, before even sitting down, the door was opened by Colin Creevey.

"What do you want, Mr. Creevey?" Snape asked bluntly, looking at the third-year.

"I'm, uh, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter upstairs, Mr. Bagman wants him." Colin said, clearly feeling a few inches taller than usual under Snape's glare.

Snape glanced at Harry, then Colin.

"Fine. Potter, leave your thi-"

"Mr. Bagman wants Harry to bring his things."

A grumble came from Snape. "Fine. Potter, grab your stuff and go. Now." He said, before resuming his lesson.

* * *

Inside the classroom, it became clear to Harry that everyone else had arrived. Viktor in a corner, almost moody. Fleur and Cedric were chatting up a storm, a woman with golden looks Harry had never met, and a cameraman was adjusting a (likely magical) camera.

Bagman laid eyes on Harry. "Aah, young lady, I don't believe you're supposed to be here." He said calmly, looking at Harry.

"I'm Harry Potter." With that simple statement, Bagman's eyes widened.

"Blimey, okay, uh... Why are you..." Bagman wildly gestured to Harry's body (mostly the chest), clearly confused at the change.

"I offered to try something for a friend. They want to open a joke shop." Harry said. While it wasn't a complete lie, Harry sure as hell was not telling Bagman _to mess with your tournament_.

Bagman seemed flustered, unsure what to do. "L-look, Mist-Miss Potter, I have someone who would like to interview you. This is Rita Skeeter."

Rita Skeeter, Harry realized, was the woman with golden locks, extraordinarily garish glasses, and red lipstick that seemed almost painful to look at. She seemed to only key into the conversation once her name was mentioned. "Aah, Ludo, yes. Hello miss."

"She's doing a small piece on the Triwizard Tournament for the Daily Prophet."

"Not exactly small..." Rita said, waving her hand around almost haphazard. "More like... Not long." She said, a glint in her eye.

"Well, you wanted to interview Harry Potter, right? The young-"

"Aah, yes, the youngest champion. Any clue when he arrives?" Rita asked, unaware of her current company. Ludo made a simple gesture to Harry, who Rita looked at. "Aaah." She said simply, and Harry though he saw the grip around her quill tighten. "Of course, my bad. I assume one of those... gender potions?"

Harry nodded simply, looking at Rita. She had gone through toxic sweetness to poorly veiled hatred, but nonetheless she gave a smile. "Please, Mister Potter, if you could follow me in, I'd like to do a short interview." She said, not waiting for Harry.

"So, uh, Miss Potter, I suppose you should join her?" Bagman said, and Harry blinked. Good to see I have a choice. Harry proceeded to follow Rita inside.

"Lovely." said Rita Skeeter as Harry came in. She had an unwavering smile, as though she had been forced to, and she looked at Harry.

"You won’t mind, Mister Potter, if I use a Quick-Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you more... naturally." Rita asked. Not caring for Harry's reply, she pulled one out. "Testing, this is Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet..." Across the paper, Harry could see the quill writing.

> _Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations, was available to talk to the champions of the Tri-_

"Lovely," she said, letting the quill go. "So, Mister Potter, what encouraged you to join the Triwizard Tournament?" Before one could answer, Harry's eyes wandered to the quill's words.

> _Mister Harry Potter, a person marred by a scar left over a decade ago-_

"Ignore the quill, Mister Potter." Rita said, but for good measure, he moved the paper closer to the wall, just barely out of Harry's sight.

"Please, just call me Harry." Said the aforementioned, but Rita waved it off.

"Formalities." Rita said sharply. "Now, why did you join the Tournament?"

"I didn’t,” said Harry. “I don’t know how my name got into the Goblet of Fire. I didn’t put it in ther-"

"So you're saying that this wasn't a choice?" Rita cut Harry off, a terrifying gleam in her eyes. Harry felt the need to shiver, but suppressed it.

"Exactly!" Harry said, glad that more people believed that a deadly tournament of gold and attention was not on Harry's priority list. A glimpse of the quill working away furiously could be seen, and Rita swapped out a paper. She nodded curtly, a genuine smile on her face. _Maybe she just gets short-tempered without an interview._

"So, what would you consider your emotional state over the Triwizard Tournament? Nervous? Excited? Terrified?" Rita asked, and Harry paused.

"I suppose, I'm kind of nervous? I mean... I've never done anything like this."

"I understand," Rita said sympathetically, "and what about your parents? Do you think they would be proud?"

"I mean, I... I never met them."

"Do you think they would be comfortable with their son throwing his life away for some short-lived endeavor?" Rita said, the quill stopping as her sentence closed.

"I mean, no, but I'm not throwing my life away."

Rita winked, and watched the quill continued writing.

"So, Mister Potter, care to explain the current..." Rita waved absentmindedly at Harry's body, causing the latter to blush.

"A couple friends of mine want to run a joke shop, and this was on their list of things worth trying to make. I tested it for them." Harry said, and Rita looked like she was going to ask yet another question, but stopped when the door was opened by none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore!" Rita said, much to the reporter's surprise. She got up briskly. "I suppose it's the Weighing of the Wands?"

"I have never seen you so excited to end an interview, Rita. But, yes, yes it is."

Rita winked at Harry, before stepping outside of the small cupboard. Dumbledore turned to face Harry.

"Mr. Ollivander will see you now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do. You. Know. How. Hard. It. Is. To. Not. Use. Pronouns. JSHDSJDJSHDJSDJDSD I don't wanna use pronouns for Harry, because as I see it, saying "she" in the story is misgendering as far as Harry's concerned, but an egg who is in a female body who will be using "she" pronouns later feels wrong as well. So dodge all pronouns! ~~It's Touhou all over again~~
> 
> As for Rita Skeeter, I picture Rita being a HP!world analog to J. K. Rowling herself, so this will be very interesting indeed.


	3. No One Predicted This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some twins do a checkup, Sirius meets with Harry, Rita writes the news, and an outburst occurs during Divination.

A weighing, a letter from Sirius, and ten days later, and Harry had a news clipping in hand.

> **TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT UNDERWAY** by Rita Skeeter

To Harry's surprise, rather than any of the dozens of pictures the Prophet took with all four contestants, the article was instead opting for a triptych of Fleur, Cedric and Viktor. Hermione sat there with Harry - and although he'd deny it, Ron was nearby (likely listening in) - as Harry started to read it out loud.

> _The Triwizard Tournament has officially begun._
> 
> _Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations, was available to talk to the champions of the Triwizard Tournament, and it's clear indeed that this will be the best year yet._
> 
> _Of the four contestants, Ms. Fleur Delacour, Mr. Cedric Diggory, and Mr. Viktor Krum were chosen as representation for their respective schools. However, to the surprise of many, a fourth contestant was called - fourteen-year old Mr. Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, was chosen as a fourth contestant, giving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry two contestants in the Triwizard Tournament_ _..._

The article was almost two pages long - and when the writing is wire thin, it means something - explaining the talents and home life of the first three Champions, explaining the history of the Triwizard Tournament. To Harry's surprise, the only time Harry was brought up was as a fourth champion near the start, and a short passage near the end questioning if Harry should be allowed to participate. (" _Even as a former student of Hogwarts myself, it feels unfair to give our school two champions - especially so when the other schools need to compete against one person with Hogwarts talent already_ ", Rita had written.)

Harry was not complaining. From never wanting to be in this Tournament to begin with, to the hazards involved, to the wedge it was cramming in Harry's friendship with Ron, to overall just not wanting attention, this was a very welcome fact. It was surprising, honestly, that Rita Skeeter didn't want to write a six-page piece on a supposed hero.

Instead, most of the article seemed to praise Cedric as a true Hogwarts champion, an ideology Harry could get behind.

In turn however, the article had actually helped. Ron - who yes, had been listening in - had heard how happy Harry had been to, well, not get the spotlight. It was rocky, but Ron came over to Harry, and the two talked out things - Hermione was elated, as she had been serving as a messenger for almost two weeks now.

Ignoring Ron's invasive questions about Harry's potion, things even seemed fine.

If you excluded the possibly deadly task up ahead.

* * *

Today was supposed to be a trip to Hogsmeade. And as people were getting ready, Ron and Hermione both started sputtering when Harry had walked into the room proudly wearing a Support Cedric Diggory pin.

"Why the pin? Isn't that Malf-" Ron had started, before Harry cut him off.

"Yeah, and he nearly exploded when I started wearing it." Harry pointed out. "I just want to live, so if Cedric wins, all the better."

Ron paused for a second, before getting a grin that resembled the twins. "Got a second?" Harry started to pull out two pins, passing one to Ron and offering the other to Hermione.

Hermione threw her hands up in the air, annoyed. "Seriously? You can't give Malfoy what he wants."

"And we're not really." Harry said. "He would be livid if he knew we were these proudly. I got Cedric on board." Harry pointed out, managing to convince the Hufflepuff that there was no problem with Cedric proudly supporting. While Cedric still wasn't wearing a pin, it was for different reasons - 'it feels weird to wear a pin praising myself, still.' "Maybe we can ruin Malfoy's little campaign."

Hermione begrudgingly took the pin, clipping it to the outside of the jacket.

In Hogsmeade itself, three things struck Harry as... amusing.

First off, Rita Skeeter was there. She was sharp with Harry again, right out of the gate, which only seemed to further solidify Harry's theory that she had an unhealthy addiction to the journalism life. Harry had even thanked Rita Skeeter for focusing more on Cedric. Rita seemed to be taken aback by this, before smirking, promising to do better next time.

Secondly, it was not hard to find the Weasley twins, who were inside Zonko's, studying rather than buying.

"Fred! George!" Ron had said, running up to them. George dropped a small cluster on Sugar Quills, looking.

"Aah, perfect! We were going to come looking for you." Fred said, shoving what Harry realized was a non-magical notepad into his robe pockets.

"What are you two doing?" Ron asked quizzically.

"Trying to figure out why Zonko's does so well." George explained. "We figured it out, too!"

"Hogwarts students don't have anywhere else to buy things." Fred said, rolling his eyes with clear disappointment.

"You two are studying?" Harry asked, looking at the- yep, that was most certainly an ordinary pen - pen in Fred's other hand.

"Yep! Can't succeed in life if you don't, that's what she always says."

The aforementioned she spoke up. "If you spent this time studying for your class instead of joke shop stuff, you two would be doing better than failing."

"Ahh, but you see Hermione..."

"That's no fun." The twins said in unison.

"But, uh, we needed to ask Holly here some questions." Fred pointed out, gesturing to Harry.

"My name's not Holly."

"Not yet. Come on." George gestured, while Ron and Hermione started talking about the store's stuff.

"So, uh, it's nearly been a month. You don't seem sick, any side effects, good or bad? Mood swings, dysphoria? Euphoria?" George asked, looking serious. Harry must have seemed surprised, because then he added. "What's with the look?"

"We can be professional when we need to be," Fred pointed out, before winking at George. "Okay, well, we can't, but we aren't all jokes."

"Aah, no. No mood swings. What were the other two?" Harry answered, lost on words.

"Not important. Feeling sick, feeling unhappy?" Fred asked, brushing aside the first question. Harry replied no, to which Fred nodded.

"Perfect! Now that'll be 50 Galleons as a service fee, plus another 50 because there's two of us, plus another 50 because the Americans pay a lot for healthcare."

"Why does that one matter?" Harry asked, chuckling.

"Well, I want money!" George said, and it wasn't long before there was a laughing fit.

"Anyway, yeah. Let us know if you feel down, Holly."

"Harry," came the correction.

"Got it Mistletoe."

Harry's eyes rolled, before rejoining Ron and Hermione. Stepping out of the shop, they started walking to the Three Broomsticks, where an offer laid.

The third thing was Hagrid offered to show Harry a secret if he came with the Invisibility Cloak at midnight.

* * *

As Harry ran back to the castle, one thought was going strong.

Dragons?

That was the safe first task the Ministry was so proud of? Harry made a mental note to see what older Tournaments were, but there wasn't much time to get back before meeting Sirius.

Whispering the password to the Fat Lady, Harry stepped inside, looking around. Unsurprisingly, at this time and hour, there was no other Gryffindors in the common room, so Harry sat, waiting for Sirius. There was no need to wait long, before Harry noticed a shift in the fire - likely the same thing Mr. Weasley had done not too long ago. A grin formed, a genuine one, as Harry quietly rushed over.

"Sirius!" The fire swirled in Harry's direction, before looking terrified. "I-it's me!"

Sirius paused, and even in the fire, skin turned into embers and heat, Harry could tell the color was draining from Sirius's face.

"L-Lily?" He asked in a whisper-shout.

"It's me, Harry." Harry replied. Sirius was quiet for a second. "The Weasley twins, it's a gender changing potion of some sort."

Sirius nodded, surprise on his face.

"How are you doing?" Harry asked, looking at the face in the fire.

"Never mind me, you?"

Harry was going to lie and say things were fine, but before any sort of mental filter turned on, Harry was rambling to the fireplace, about everything. Sirius listened calmly, only interrupting to clear stuff up.

"We can deal with dragons, but I'll get to that in a minute — I haven’t got long here... I’ve broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about." Sirius said, rambling a little. Sirius started to explain how Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater, who sold out others in exchange for freedom from Azkaban, as well as the possible capture of Bertha Jorkins.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

"Go!" Harry hissed at Sirius. "Go! There’s someone comin'!"

As Sirius' face dissolved into the flames, Harry was greeted with Ron and Hermione both.

"Was that Si-" Hermione started asking, clearly rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Padfoot?" Ron cut her off, and Harry realized Ron hadn't slept a wink. Whether he was waiting for Sirius too or he just couldn't sleep was unknown.

"Yeah, it was Padfoot. He told me that an Auror went missing near where Voldemort was last seen." Harry reiterated, ignoring the flinching that came from the other two. "He also told that Karkaroff - the Durmstrang headmaster? He used to be, or maybe still is, a Death Eater."

"A Dea-" Ron started to exclaim loudly, before Hermione calmly clamped a hand over his mouth. She hissed something quietly at him.

Harry nodded.

"Also, Hagrid showed me what the first task is." Harry said, before taking a deep breath. "Dragons."

Hermione's eyes went wide, seemingly snapping her out of her dream-daze.

"D-dragons?" Ron stammered. "I thought this year was supposed to safer?"

Harry shrugged, and while Hermione looked like she was going to say something, paused against it.

"The funny thing is..." Harry said slowly. "Is Sirius said I looked like Lily..."

Ron looked at Harry. "Well, everyone says you look like James, right? So girl you would look like your mum."

Harry nodded. It made sense, but that wasn't what got the thought to stick.

"I don't know, it just felt..." Harry stammered, looking for a word.

"Euphoric?" Hermione provided, making it the second time today Harry had heard that word. At Harry's blank stare, she added, "Like, a feeling of happiness."

"Ooh just say happiness next time." Ron berated, but Hermione shrugged it off.

"Yeah. It was..." Harry said, looking back at the fire. "Nice."

"Probably just cause it came from Sirius." Ron pointed out. Hermione looked like she was gonna say something again, but instead started walking up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. "Ooh, don't mind her, she's just jealous probably."

Harry couldn't shake the feeling she was mad at Ron over Harry, but decided to follow Ron anyway.

* * *

Multiple books poured over. Multiple spells considered. Nothing. Worked. As it was, Harry, Ron and Hermione collectively came up with one idea - pulling Harry's Firebolt in the stadium to maybe use it to dodge the dragon.

So Harry's day became split between normal classes, and time with Hermione to perfect the Summoning Charm.

It all started going downhill in Divination, honestly.

"Hmm... According to the current alignment, it appears that..." Professor Trelawney rambled, as Harry tried to tune her out. Harry was moreso focused on personal things - not getting killed by dragons, passing other classes, trying to just clear out the mess that was emotions, and trying to understand why the Lily comment from Sirius had stuck inside Harry's head for almost two days now.

"As for people born in July," The professor said, snapping Harry from a daytime reverie, "They will face gradual change, a world of doubt, and a violent but painless death." She said, and Harry snapped.

"Oh, that's good!" Harry said, slamming the book closed. "I was worried it'd be a painful death!" Everyone was looking at Harry. Unsure what exactly what was coming out, Harry started rambling.

"You know, maybe you should try to predict the real future." Harry said, and before Trelawney could argue, "I mean, every year you either predict my death, or some catastrophe. You've said real prophecies, how about more of those? But no, it's all tea leaves and nonsense!" Harry snapped, voice catching on itself midway through. Oh god I should shut up.

Shut up Harry did not. "I see why Hermione left this class. Everything you spout is either complete drivel or vague things that will always happen."

Trelawney paused, looking at Harry. Clearly, no one had never snapped this loudly at the teacher before - Hermione had the year before, but at least she had remained semi-civil.

"If Mister Potter thinks my class is so terrible, I'd like to speak to you privately. As for the rest of you, class dismissed."

Uh-oh.

As the students slowly filed out, Trelawney looked at Harry.

"Potter, what encouraged this outburst?" She said, surprisingly sympathetically. "You never have been a fan of this class, but never have you... gotten this upset with a teacher."

A lie, in fact. Harry had, just not in many years - teachers before Hogwarts would have words with Trelawney for that line.

"I... I'm not sure."

"I'd assume it's the stress of the Triwizard Tournament?" She asked, and Harry looked up. "I've seen in the stars, and I see that you didn't enter yourself. A great plan is destined, and you needed to join for it to work. The question is who, and why." Before Harry could speak up, "I assume you know what you're doing? I assume you already know the task?"

Harry nodded, dumbfounded. Professor Trelawney was listening? And not just that, but helpfully? Harry explained the plan briefly - to summon a Firebolt, and try to avoid the dragon. (Trelawney seemed surprised at it being a dragon. In retrospect, the seer supposed, it made more sense than a swimming contest. She could've sworn that was what she had seen in tea leaves though.)

Trelawney offered Harry to spend the remaining time of the class simply practicing the Summoning Charm. Even if for selfish reasons, there was a small betting pot among Hogwarts staff of who would do better, Cedric or Harry. Trelawney was, to Harry's surprise, against Cedric.

One hour and fifteen minutes later, Harry stepped out the Divination class to a terrified Hermione and a insanely-bored Ron.

After downing some quick dinner, Ron and Hermione - well, mostly Hermione, although Ron's emotional support was welcome - helped Harry practice the Summoning Charm some more. By two in the morning, Harry had gotten it down pat.

"Well, now we know what to do next time you have troubles. Threaten you with a dragon." Ron quipped, and Harry glared a little, although it was clear the offense wasn't there. "Although, why did you fly off the handle at Professor Trelawney earlier?"

At this, Hermione's eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Harry explained how in class, Professor Trelawney had said another prophecy of death, and Harry had snapped at the Divination teacher. Hermione paused for a minute.

"That's not like you, Harry."

"Well, that's I thought too!" Ron pointed out, in a whisper-shout.

"Well, it's not, but recently, my mood's been all swingy." Harry explained, and Hermione's eyes widened.

"Do you know what time the Task ends tomorrow?" Hermione asked, getting a shaken head in response. "After it, meet with me."

She left, yawning. "Although, I don't know about you two, but I'm going to sleep." She said, climbing up the enchanted stairs and into the girls' dorm.

Ron looked at her leave quizzically, before looking at Harry.

"For once, I agree. We should get some shut-eye."

Harry changed, and started to get into bed... and was asleep before head met pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, pronoun game ends next chapter. Next chapter is the First Task, finally. Ugh, taking forever.


	4. The Chinese Fireball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fiery fight facing furious Fireballs, followed for friendly discussions.
> 
> I love ruining alliterations.

The First Task was about to start. The rules of the task were simple: don't die.

Well, really, the rule was to grab a golden egg. But more importantly was not dying.

Bagman was the man with a bag of figurines, and he held the bag out. "So, I suppose we should draw these now." He said, before turning to face Harry. "Ladies first." Harry blushed, trying to shrug it off. "You're the Boy Who Lived, it only makes sense, go first." Bagman said nervously, and Harry suspected there was some personal reason - maybe he had also bet on Harry? - before putting a hand into the bag, and pulling out a figurine with red and gold - the Chinese Fireball. It had a little three emblazoned on it, and Bagman proceeded to offer the bag next to Fleur, who pulled out the green Hungarian Horntail, number four. Viktor came next, getting the Welsh Green (and a number one), leaving Cedric with the second dragon, the Swedish Short-Snout.

"Well, there you are! You have each pulled out the dragon you will face," Bagman started explaining. "And the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons. Now, I’m going to have to leave you in a moment, because I’m commentating. Mr. Krum, you’re first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right?"

Krum nodded, and a few moments later, walked into the stadium. The sound of cheering could be heard - that was to be expected, it was Viktor Krum. As Harry listened, hopes started to gradually decrease. Bagman was describing Viktor dodges with death and fails - and the successes, but Bagman clearly had a preference for the commentary.

In due time, the sound of applause cut through the stunned silence, and Cedric Diggory started to walk out for his round with the dragon. Somehow, this one was worse, as Bagman narrated the near-death experiences, where one hit of damage sounded like it be the difference between life and death.

And then, applause once more.

And Harry was up.

Walking out into the field, the Chinese Fireball seemed to look at Harry excitedly, as though it had been waiting. One hand outstretched, wand clutched tightly, Harry tried to focus clearly.

"Accio Firebolt!" And for a moment, nothing happened. And then hearing it, speeding through the air was a Firebolt, hurtling towards the stadium. It halted beside Harry, waiting to be mounted.

"Look at this, pulling a Firebolt from out of the ga-" Bagman paused, before asking in a incredulous voice. "Wait, is he _allowed_ to do that?"

There seemed to be a pause, and Harry started to worry, waiting to mount the Firebolt. But, alas, before any decision could be made, the Chinese Fireball got sick of waiting, and with one puff as the only warning, shot a blast of fire at Harry. The champion dived, narrowly missing the fire, the smell of fire and torched wood filling the air.

 _Torched wood,_ Harry realized. Turning back, Harry couldn't see a Firebolt, or any broomstick at all.

"I suppose the legality doesn't matter, since the Fireball dealt with the Firebolt!" Shouted a voice throughout the forest-born stadium.

Bagman was less than helpful.

Deciding to mourn the loss of a certain Firebolt later, Harry looked around. The golden egg was clearly there, and Harry knew that the solution was not outsmarting the dragon, but figuring out how to get around-

Ooh.

Harry saw the Fireball, which was eyeing the collection of eggs, seemingly satisfied with destroying the Firebolt. Harry tried to think of the invisibility spell Flitwick had been teaching, before realization dawned.

"Praetervolo!" Harry said, firing a small shot at the ground. For a minute, Harry froze, uncertain if it worked.

"Ooh, how clever!" Bagman's voice boomed suddenly, confirming the spell's success. "The dragon can't stop you if it can't see you!"

Harry quietly walked up, the Fireball glancing around. Even when it looked right at Harry, it didn't seem to notice. Right up to the golden egg, Harry looked at it. It was surprisingly small, and picking it up wasn't hard. Although Bagman had gone quiet, likely from the inability of seeing Harry, as Harry picked up the egg however, he started booming again.

"And he seems to have grabbed the egg!"

Harry had several choice words that staff would not approve of, as the Fireball turned. Harry took a dive with the egg, just as the Fireball proceeded to throw fire at its own eggs. As the fire subsided, Harry saw the eggs were unharmed, and Harry got up and started running back. Just moments before entering, the spell dissipated.

"Maybe not the most showful method, but it worked! Harry Potter has gotten the egg! And he was the fastest, too!"

After leaving the pitch, Harry had been given some medical treatment, and the time was quickly here for the score - Krum had supposedly gotten a thirty-eight, Cedric a thirty-one, and Fleur a surprisingly low twenty-two. (Even Madam Maxine had been disappointed, giving a score of five.)

As the scores were announced, Harry noticed the Gryffindors seemingly excited, but not just them. The Ravenclaws, even some of the Hufflepuffs - it seems they had gone from rooting for Cedric to just hoping Hogwarts had won.

Just as the school was leaving, Harry saw a hazy wave in the air, and turning to it, Harry was met face to face with Rita Skeeter.

"Mister Potter, it's a pleasure, it really is." Rita said, the clear angry look on her face seeming to melt. Ooh, she wants an interview. "Could I possibly get a word with you?"

"I have to go, Ms. Skeeter, I'm sorr-" Harry started to walk off, but Rita moved with startling speed in the middle of the door frame.

"No, please, I insist. The world's dying to know." Rita said. "Why you haven't dropped the Tournament, why you took Feminea Inextensi, your thoughts on the world as a whole?"

"Fine, you can have a word." Harry said, looking at the journalist, who's eyes lit up. "Goodbye." Harry ducked, and walked under Rita's outstretched arm, to head back to the castle.

Turning back, Rita seemed to have left. But Harry couldn't shake the feelings that was a mistake.

* * *

Coming back from the Owlery, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking, and they seemed to genuinely believe Harry could win this. Suddenly, Ron stopped.

"Errr, Harry, can you stick back for a minute?" Ron asked, looking at his friend. "There's a thing, in the common room, and uh, I need to make sure it's ready."

"I've got something to talk about anything, so this works." Hermione said, answering for Harry. The champion glanced at Hermione, who looked at Harry.

"Uuh, sure, yeah." Harry said. As Ron ran off, Harry looked at Hermione. "What is it, Hermione?"

"So, uh, something I've noticed: you've seemed happier recently? What changed over the summer?" Hermione said, the question sounding very carefully crafted.

"I'm... I'm not sure. I've just felt happier since my name came out of the Goblet?" Harry said, shrugging.

"I thought you didn't want to be in the Tournament?"

"I don't!" Harry exclaimed, throwing hands in the air. "But since that day, I've felt more... happy? Relaxed, I guess. Cozy."

"Could it be the potion?" Hermione said, and Harry felt like she had wanted to say that from the start. "You took it the same day you got chosen for the Tournament, right?"

"The day after, but..." Harry shrugged. "Why would that effect me?"

"Harry, have you ever felt like..." She flailed her arms a little, looking for a word. "Like you weren't meant to be a guy?"

"I mean, all the time." Harry said, remembering how Aunt Petunia seemed to yell louder whenever it got brought up.

Hermione seemed taken aback. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Something clicked inside of Harry. "Wait..." Harry said, tentatively speaking. "I thought that was normal...?"

Hermione frowned a little. "Do you know what transgender means?" She asked, her hand already in her bag. Harry shook their head, looking confused. "I figured. It's not... common." She pulled out a book, and Harry noticed it was bound from a printing press, unlike the more glued style that wizarding books took. "It's, uh, it's a study. It'll probably be boring, but..." She shrugged. "Maybe it'll help?"

Harry looked at the book, although the book cover seemed to be wrecked. It was very unlike Hermione to damage a book like this, but it clearly didn't come from Hogwarts.

"What is this?" Harry asked. "And why do you have it?"

Hermione blushed a little, the dark hallways hiding it. "My parents wanted me to read through it. It was one of their old textbooks, they figured I should read it, to be more awa-" Harry cut her off before she rambled.

"Fair enough. And thanks." Harry said, putting the book in a bag so Hermione didn't need to carry it longer.

"Harry?" She said, once Harry was done putting it away.

"Yeah?"

"I'll support you, and I'm sure others would too." She said, giving Harry a quick hug.

Before Harry could say anything to that, the door opened. "C'mon, we have something to show you." Ron said, waving an arm to invite 

Harry jumped into the dormitory, to see a surprise party. There was food galore, which was always a pro. Cakes, pumpkin juice, butterbeer - even those weird Canadian chocolate bars. The air was filled with sparkles and glows from some magical fireworks, so the air itself seems to be hazy with joy. Some banners had been put up, featuring the Chinese Fireball and Harry stealing the egg.

Lost for words, the twins came up and surprised Harry with a plate. "You can have this if you don't die in the Second Task." Fred said.

"We did all this for the Triwizard Champion-To-Be, Fred, so just let the lovely Holly have her plate." George said, smirking.

"D-don't call me that." Harry said, the name seriously setting unease unlike before. Sensing the unease, George quietly apologized, looking at his brother with a shrug, before George turned back. "There is just one, teensy tiny requirement."

"What?" Harry asked, surprised.

"That egg. What's inside it?" Fred asked, and Harry shrugged. "Well, let's find out!"

"I'm supposed to do it solo..."

"Yeah, but we're all friends here. Won't hurt to see. If it's so obvious we figure out from just one time, you'd figure out on your own anyway." George pushed, and without much room to argue, Harry pulled the egg out from their bag.

Digging fingernails into the groove, Harry opened it.

_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

The sound was immeasurable, and the night nearly ruined. The sound of a banshee (at best) was howling, and Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the Slytherins were complaining from the basement.

Quickly slamming it shut, another Gryffindor - Lee Jordan - looked at the egg, before chuckling. "Well, that's not exactly a prize."

Some brainstorming was tossed around, but it was quickly ditched in favor of good food, good company. Things seems alright.

It was nearly one in the morning - _on a school night_ , Hermione hypocritically felt the need to point out - before the party had started to die off, and it was three in the morning by the time Ron had convinced Harry (and Hermione) to sleep, where the last remaining Gryffindors disbanded to the dorms for some shut-eye.

Harry was getting into bed, when upon thinking for a moment, pulled the book, their wand, and the statue of the Fireball from their bookbag. Placing the Fireball on the edge next to the bed, Harry got underneath the covers, and gently tapped the front of the book, whispering _Lumos_ softly.

If Hermione could pull a million all-nighters for classwork, Harry could afford to pull one for fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I could change up the order of the dragons, so I did. I also wanted to try subverting the original task, as I feel the Firebolt would've been grounds for disqualification. Since Harry needs to advance to the final task (there's a Portkey awaiting), I reworked it. For anyone curious, Praetorvolo is what Google Translate gave me when I typed in Vanish. (Well, it gave me PRAETERVOLO, all caps, BUT).
> 
> Second, WE DID IT WE SAID THE NAME. Feminea Inextensi, in my eyes, would be the "scientific" name of the gender potion the Weasley's made. More on it soon. Why Rita bothered to look into it, you'll see at that exact same soon. Friendly reminder this takes place in '94.
> 
> Btw, the Canadian chocolate bars are Nanaimo bars, I fucking love them. Make them if you haven't, they are truly the best food to come out of Canada. As for the Weasley twins at that party, they are somehow really good allies, even if it all seems in jest.
> 
> Dealing with the big thing, Hermione is a great friend, and it was a great little thing that she had that book on hand. Maybe Harry's about to realize something?


	5. Questions and Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two people start interrogating an innocent person.

Harry got literally zero seconds of sleep that night, managing to go through the book enough to understand what Hermione had meant when she had said to learn what transgender means.

And Harry was mildly... Terrified. Completely, utterly, terrified. Because it fit to a T, and Harry didn't exactly like what that entailed.

It was distracting from Herbology, and given the wide-open nature of the Great Hall, Harry was petrified to consider bringing it up there. Luckily, came a class where Harry was, even if not able to be less distracted, not feel as worried. Slytherins, annoying as they were, weren't enough to make Care for Magical Creatures less pleasant. Well, they were, but Harry could deal with it.

In the midst of what was arguably Hagrid's worst class in Hogwarts history - possibly the worst class in Hogwarts history, period - Harry panicked, eyes laying down upon the golden-teeth and glistening glasses of Rita Skeeter. The journalism noticed Harry, and walked up to Hagrid.

"Well well welly well well..." She drawled slowly, soaking up the catastrophe in front of her. She leaned, with her left arm on the fence (the jagged top not bothering her, it seemed), a Quick-Quotes Quill and a roll of parchment bunched up in her right hand. "What's this?"

Hagrid turned to face Rita, confused. "Who're ya?" Hagrid asked, looking at the journalism.

"Rita Skeeter, famous columnist of the Daily Prophet." She said proudly, delighted to introduce herself.

"I thought Dumbeldore want'd you to stay off the prope-" Hagrid started.

"I was wondering if perhaps I could interview a few students?" Rita said, the cold look on her face Harry had started to associate with journalism-withdrawal.

"I mean..."

"Wonderful!" She said, as though this were acknowledgement. "Perhaps after class we could talk about these..." She said, gesturing to the skrewts.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts." Hagrid said proudly. Rita aknowledged it, before looking.

"Ooh, Mister Potter is in the class?" She said. "Could I speak with him?"

Harry felt a bit stiff with the address, but decided to go through with it anyway. "Hello, Ms. Skeeter."

"Harry, hello." She said, opening the gate. "Just a few questions."

* * *

"I assume this will take the rest of class?" Harry said, looking back as Rita led the champion to a room closer to the castle.

"Possibly. I apologize, Mister Potter." Rita said, sitting down. A small stool beside her, she haphazardly dropped the quill and scroll, and with a quick setup - not even bothering to test it - she started the talking.

"So, in the midst of the First Task, what were your thoughts, Mister Potter." Rita asked quizzically, the journalism-withdrawal seeming to subside.

"Just Harry is fine."

"You have your father's middle name, don't you? James, correct?" She asked, the topic of names seeming to have come up. Harry nodded. "I figured as much. Honorable man, traditionalist. Now, the First Task?"

"Honestly, going into it, I didn't even want to do it. Since it was dragons, I tried to practice the, uh, the Summoning Ch-"

"You practiced? Despite only finding out day-of, you practiced for it?" Rita said, sparkling green nails tapping on the chair.

"I, uh, I heard the roar. I thought maybe it was different, but I figured, dragons are a worst case scenario, so practice for that. Well, I mean..." Harry stammered, but Rita waved it off.

"A friend suggested it could be dragons?"

"Yes, exactly, my friend Hermion-"

"The muggleborn?"

"Yes." Harry said, feeling a swell of anger. "She's also top of the class." Rita hummed quietly, thinking.

"Okay. So, you practiced Summoning Charms. Did it never strike you that pulling a Nimbus into the arena might be frowned upon?"

Harry frowned. "It didn't. Someone I know once told me cheating has always been a part of the Tournament, so I figured a brooms-"

Rita waved Harry off again. "I understand fully. So, what about your Nimbus? Did you replace it?"

Harry had forgotten. In the excitement of the party, followed by a long night of reading, Harry's thoughts have forgotten the Firebolt.

"Firebolt, and... no. It... It was a gift, so..."

"Ooh, I'm sure it'll be fine. You could've done worse to a family member." Rita pointed out. "So, you tied with Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch player. Thoughts?"

Harry shrugged. "I... I don't really have any." It was true. Until Rita had brought it up, Harry had forgotten Krum was such a figure, outside of the tournament. Humming quietly, Rita wrote that down.

"What about your use of Feminea Inextensi?" Rita asked, leaving Harry with a dumbfounded expression.

"Femin... Femme...?" Harry stammered, not having heard the potion's name clearly.

"Not important then." Rita said, smirking. "So, why haven't you dropped the Tournament."

"I can't. Magical contract."

With that, Rita smirked, standing up. "That should be all then. You proved to be a troubling catch, Mister Potter. The other three champions were straight with me last night." She said, and with a huff, started walking back to the cabin. Harry was going to follow, only to see Ron and Hermione.

"Ron, can you do me a favor and grab food for us two? I need to talk wit-" Hermione started, before Ron sighed.

"Yep, I can do it. I swear, you're trying to replace me." Ron said. Hermione's glare was missed, as the redhead went to go get food. Hermione proceeded to bring Harry to a small ladder near the Divination staircase.

"So..." Hermione started. "Did yo-"

"How did you know I even read it?" Harry started, smirking. Hermione brushed it off.

"You've been out of touch all day. I spilled dirt on your hand in Herbology and you didn't even move." She pointed out, much to Harry's embarrassment. "So, thoughts?"

Harry laughed a bit. "I've been asked for my thoughts like ten times today. You'd think I got interviewed." With a chuckle, Harry looked at the ground. "I think... I think so."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You think what?"

Harry looked up, shrugging. "I think I'm tr- I think I'm transgender." Harry said.

 _There,_ Harry thought. _It's out there. No taking it back._

Hermione hugged Harry tightly. Despite Hermione's promise to support Harry, despite lending the book and overall proving she wouldn't have been mad, Harry was pleasantly surprised.

"So..." Hermione said. "What do you want to do about it?"

Harry looked at her, before, without any real warning, suddenly bursting into tears. Hermione held Harry close, muttering that it'd be okay.

"I-I'm not sure." Harry said, stammering. "I l-like this, I do... but..."

"You're scared." Hermione realized, and Harry nodded to confirm it.

"What if you start small?" Hermione offered. "Take the 'prank' to a second level, go all in?" Harry looked up and Hermione, who shrugged. "The twins would be on-board, and would vouch. You could go all in, pronouns and stuff. No one would question it, not really." Hermione pointed out, as though she had given it thought. "I mean, this prank is the perfect excuse."

Something clicked with Harry.

"Did you do this? Did you set the twins up?" Harry asked, unsure of current emotions. Hermione shook her head.

"No, I didn't. The twins came up with the prank on their own." Hermione said, and although Harry felt it wasn't the whole truth, there was something in Hermione's voice that gave away she was being honest.

"But it works, yeah..." Harry said, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I want to do that." Hermione smiled, hugging Harry. "J-just don't tell anyone, yet. The being transgender part..."

Hermione nodded. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Harry, when did you take the potion first?"

"Almost a month ago, why?" Harry asked.

"Ooh, this is embarrassing..." Hermione muttered. "We're talking about this somewhere more private." She said nervously, yanking Harry's arm to an otherwise empty bathroom.

One awkward conversation that was needed (but never wanted), and finding a lost Weasley later - _you should've stayed put_ \- Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating food in a makeshift picnic outside. Despite the cold November air, things seemed fine, and the group was laughing like usual.

"Hey, uh, Ron?" Harry said suddenly, and the redhead looked up.

"Hmmm?" Ron said, his voice warped by food.

"I was gonna tell both of you earlier, but got distracted." Harry said, lying on the spot. "But, uh, you think I should go all out with the prank?" At Ron's raised eyebrow, Harry continued. "Like, she and her, Girl Who Lived, that stuff." Ron had a short laugh, choking on his food. As he finished his bite, he looked at Harry.

"Feel free. Fred and George would find it hilarious, if I'm being honest." Ron said, before tilting his head. "Yeah, I mean, you're pranking the Ministry, right?"

Harry nodded, a blush forming.

"So, what, treat you like a girl now?" Ron asked, before frowning. "Wait, no fair, now I'm outnumbered." He said casually, gesturing to Hermione.

Harry was elated that there wasn't some instant outcry yet.

She was elated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter. BUT, it felt like it needed to be cut off from _The Chinese Fireball_ and _It Takes Time To Tango (Albeit Terribly)_ (yes, that's the next chapter name); and honestly, I just wanted to see this published finally. Hermione seems to be hiding things, but at least it's all for the greater good.
> 
> Okay, real quick, I do headcanon that Rita has journalism-withdrawals, there isn't any additional reasons to those. Harry just makes them worse for reasons you'll see soon. For context, I've displaced Rita's visit from early December to the days after the First Task. It seems weird she didn't push for an interview sooner.
> 
> AND FINALLY NO MORE PRONOUN GAME. IT IS SO FUCKING HARD TO USE ZERO PRONOUNS FOR SOMEONE, and I forgot gender neutral pronouns existed until last chapter, so uh. YEAH. SKJDFHSKJDHFKSJDHFHF
> 
> So, yeah. I'll publish the next chapter soon. (If I can help it, this won't count as tomorrow's chapter, but if it comes down to it, between me and my daily uploads...) In the meantime, enjoy!
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr. [TheHigherDissidency](https://thehigherdissidency.tumblr.com/), as always. I don't know if it matters, but.


	6. It Takes Time to Tango, Albeit Terribly

"Class, may I have your attention?" Professor McGonagall’s voice rang out, and the few students that hadn't been focusing - including Harry - looked up at the Transfiguration teacher.

"Now, I have something to share. The Yule Ball is approaching — a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above — although you may invite a younger student if you wish," The professor said, and some of the girls in the class giggled, "You will be wearing dress robes, and it starts at eight o'clock on Christmas night, and it lasts until midnight."

"And while it's a night to, er, let your hair down, I refuse to let any of you present Hogwarts in a bad light. I hope no one in this class manages to embarrass Hogwarts in any way." As the bell went off, McGonagall looked at Harry, before saying. "Potter, a word with you, please."

Harry got up, feeling nervous. She walked up to the desk near the front of the class, and McGonagall looked at her.

"So, Mister Pott-"

"Miss Potter." Harry said suddenly, not even thinking before it left. McGonagall raised an eyebrow, but seemingly brushed it aside.

"So, Miss Potter," She said, "the champions and their partners-"

"Partners?" Harry asked. McGonagall's jaw seemed to tighten, annoyed at the second interruption in ten seconds.

"Yes, Potter, your dance partners." She said, "Traditionally, the champions and their dance partners open up the Yule Ball."

"But, m-ma'am, I don't dance." Harry said, nervousness swelling up inside her. "I don't even have a partn-"

"I'm sure you can find someone to dance with. All the... standards apply, so you'll need to find a guy to dance with at the Ball." McGonagall pointed out.

"I'm not danc-"

"You are, Potter." McGonagall said, finality in her voice. "Now head off to your lunch break." She said, before leaving the room.

* * *

If you had asked Harry a week ago, would she rather face a Chinese Fireball or find a guy to dance with, she would've chosen the dance partner in a heartbeat.

If you asked her now, she'd offer to fight the Fireball, as well as the other three dragons.

Ron had tried to comfort Harry, reminder her that she'd have girls lining up to dance with her, but Harry had doubted it. Until the next day, where a second-year Hufflepuff tried to ask her out. Harry had to let her down gently, pointing out because of 'product testing', she needed to take a guy. Despite this, two more girls asked her out by end of day, a fourth-year Slytherin, and a fifth-year that looked like she would've knocked Harry out for saying no.

Harry highly doubted they knew they were asking a girl to the Ball, but figured that she was still Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived.

"And I don't even know how to dance!" Harry exclaimed, venting her frustrations to Ron and Hermione. "And besides, I need to take a guy."

The classes seemed to slowly devolve over the next few days. Flitwick let class turn into fun for the final two days of the semester, and Hagrid seemed to go really light on work. McGonagall was diligent as ever with class, Professor Binns was adamant to not let Christmas forestall his class (nor his death, Harry supposed), and Snape was no closer to giving students a break as he was to adopting Harry.

In the Gryffindor common room, many of the students seemed scrambling to get ready to leave for the break, much to Fred and George's amusement. The twins had made a bet with two Ravenclaw girls, betting on or against people staying for the break because of the Ball. To the surprise of all but the twins, most were still going home.

"Can't believe Snape gave us homework. Over Christmas!" Ron exclaimed, throwing a small orb into the air and catching it - this was another thing on the long list of things Ron was doing that was not the aforementioned homework.

Hermione, who was working on her homework (alongside a begrudging Harry - Hermione had insisted), looked at Ron. "Mmm... you’re not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" Ron's face flared up, and he looked at them.

"Well, it is Christmas." Harry pointed out, equally annoyed. "But yeah, maybe if you get it done early?" Harry offered, and Ron grunted.

The group joked and talked while Hermione and Harry got the work done - Ron insisted he'd do it later -, when Fred and George came around the corner. After some talk between them, Ron got up.

"You know, Fred's right for once. We should probably find our dates, before we end up with a pair of trolls. I mea-" He started, before a sputter from Harry and a glare from Hermione caught him off-guard. "What?"

"A pair of _what_?" Hermione asked, offense creeping into her voice.

"Well, I mean," Ron said, stammering slightly as he tried to dig himself out of the hole he had made, "I'd rather go alone then, with, like, Eloise Midgen, o-"

"Ooh, c'mon." Harry said, shrugging. "She's nice!"

"And her acne has gotten better." Hermione defended, Harry noticing an old jerkiness in her movement as she got up.

"Yeah, but her nose is off-center." Ron pointed out, and Hermione threw her hands up.

"So what? You're going to take the best-looking girl you can find, even if she's a terrible person?" Hermione asked, and Harry decided to try and sink further into the couch, as an observer and not a participant of this conversation. Ron's silence was an answer. "Oh, for the love of... Harry, follow me, maybe we can focus in quiet." Hermione said.

With a few seconds to grab stuff, Hermione held her work underneath one arm, yanked Harry's to pull her up, and started leading her up the stairs to the dormitory. Harry caught a glance at Ron's surprised face, confused as to why he was surprised Hermione took offense.

It didn't matter. With almost all of the girls gone, Hermione and Harry managed to focus on their work for a bit. Harry left right before people started coming back, and was quite annoyed at Ron's dumbfounded expression, thank you very much

* * *

The next day, once break had started, the decorations had begun.

Hogwarts seemed determined to do its best, and so Harry was taking quite a bit of joy in watching the beautiful decorations go up, the icicles that didn't melt, the beautiful trees, and armor seeing carols as you passed - and sometimes Peeves to pick up the armor's slack.

Harry was stuck in a fluster, uncertain of who to ask. Meanwhile, Ron was complaining about something he refused to acknowledge. When Harry got back to the dormitory after dinner - Hermione needed to do something supposedly -, she saw Ron and Ginny - one in a seemingly-upset state, the other seemingly amused at Ron's disappointment.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"He just asked Fleur Delacour to the Ball." Ginny said, patting Ron's arm sympathetically. It would've been warming _if_ she wasn't clearly trying not to giggle at it.

"Unbelievable! We're like the only two without a partner to the Ball!" Ron exclaimed, clearly frustrated. Harry could share the sympathy, to a degree.

"You know..." Ginny started, but she got cut off when Hermione came in, clearly confused.

"Sorry, I'm late. Where were you at dinner, Ron?" Hermione asked, and Ron looked at Ginny with a glare, as though telling her to be quiet.

"Ron asked Fleur Delacour to the Ball." Harry helpfully offered, much to Ron's indignation. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I bet Eloise Midgen is looking really pretty now, eh, Ron?" Hermione teased, causing Ron's red face to go redder still.

"What about you, you're a girl!" Ron said suddenly, and Hermione glared with a surprising coldness.

"How long have you known me?" Hermione said, and the red got redder. "Just because you haven't noticed, doesn't mean no one else noticed I'm a girl." Hermione said, subtle anger rising in her voice as it cracked towards the end. "I already have a date."

Sensing an argument, "I was going to say," Ginny intervened, "Harry needs to take a guy, right? And Ron has zero date?"

Harry realized what Ginny was saying right away, although the confused look on Ron's face solidified that he was clueless as ever. Hermione started giggling a bit, and the laughter seemed contagious among the three (Ron, excluded.)

"What? What's so funny?" He asked, and Harry got her wits together.

"Ron," Harry said, stifling more giggles. "Wanna go to the dance with me?" She said, and Ron's tomato red face seemed to somehow get redder, as though his face was painted with tomato paste. A short nod from the fourth-year confirmed it, and Harry started giggling, falling back into the couch.

"So, Harry, why are you a girl this year, anyway?" Ginny asked, and Harry realized she never explained the (now cover) story.

"Fred and George wanted product testing, and figured I could mess with the Ministry." She explained simply, giggles dying down, and Ginny cracked a grin.

"So, what, you're the Girl Who Lived now?" Harry wanted to kiss her for that. She felt a flutter in her chest, happy to be hearing it said like that.

"Yeah, exactly." Harry said, looking around.

The four started talking, the stress of the school year melting down, and for a bit, things felt like the summer, when they had watched the Quidditch World Cup, the excitement that followed.

"So, Harry, I've got a question for you." Ron asked, seriousness creeping into his words. "So, uh, yesterday, you went up the stairs with Hermione?"

"We're not dating, Ron." Hermione said rather fast, but Ron shook his head.

"How?" He asked, and Hermione's face paled horribly. She muttered something, before suddenly getting up and sprinting upstairs.

"Huh, wait, what do you mean?" Harry asked, and Ginny looked confused.

"The stairs are enchanted. Only girls can go up." Ron said, and Harry's eyes widened.

"Wait, since when?"

"Since the founders." Ginny pointed out.

"I mean, I guess I'm a girl right now...?" Harry offered, because even at its most basic, that should be a valid excu-

"No, Fred and George tried that once. Polyjuice too. They don't work."

_Fuck._

Harry blushed, before bolting out, nearly running into two returning twins, running through the halls of the castle, finding a quiet place.

She pressed herself in a corner, scared to go back. She felt terrible for it, but she felt tears running down her face, terrified.

It was one thing to hide behind the story as a prank, but now the secret was out.

She started crying, not even noticing the footsteps coming until a voice came out to her.

"Potter?" Said a familiar voice. _Snape_. "Get up."

Harry got up, terrified, but looking at Snape, she assumed maybe the tears were clouding her vision, he almost seemed... Worried?

"My upper office is right around the corner, follow me."

Harry followed the Potions master, lifting her glasses and wiping tears. Once in the office, Snape looked at her.

"Sit down." He ordered sternly. In no place to argue, she did, confused. Snape started digging around in a cupboard, and a few minutes later there was a cup of... tea?

"It's not poisoned, Potter." Snape said. "When the semester is over though, you should know antidotes." He said, and although the words were threatening, it seemed like Snape had... warmed... up?

Dismissing it as the Christmas season, Harry drank the cup of tea graciously, confused.

"Take your time, Potter." He ordered. "But then I want you to get your wits together and go, your crying was distracting." Aah, there's the Snape I know.

Surprised at the act of kindness nonetheless, Harry got up a few minutes later to leave. Before leaving, Snape called her name.

"And li-Potter." He said, as though stammering. "Tell no one of this."

Harry left, more confused but at least put together.

Arriving back at the Common Room, Harry came to see Ron and Ginny in a row with each other, while Hermione looked like she wanted to melt into the couch.

"It's not normal, Ron!" Ginny yelled at her brother, who seemed to be genuinely mad.

"It's not your place to judge that! This is exactly why she hasn't done anything about it yet!" Ron tried to say.

"Good!" Ginny screamed, "He shouldn't be doing that, it's wrong!"

"So is opening the goddamn Chamber of Secrets!" Ron argued back, "But you don't see us shaming you!"

Ginny shut up, glaring with enough force to kill, before noticing Harry and storming off to the girl's dormitory. Seeing Harry, Hermione nearly started crying, rushing to Harry.

"I'm sorry, I slipped up, I told them, I didn't mean-" Hermione apologized, choking on her words, a strangled apology coming out. Ron looked at Harry.

"She told us. Ginny kind of made her." Ron said, and for a minute, Harry was worried. _It's gonna be like Privet Drive, he's gonna hi-_ Ron leaned in and hugged her.

"Hermione supports you. I do too. And Ginny better get her act together." Ron said, and suddenly the argument made sense.

 _Ooh..._ Dread swelled up inside of Harry. The urge to cry came back full-force, knowing that the secret was probably out.

"If you want," Ron said, "You and Hermione could go to McGonagall. Maybe really stick it to Ginny, get moved ov-Oww, what was that for?" Ron had started, before Hermione jabbed him.

"Still, that's not a bad idea." Hermione said. "If you're comfortable."

Harry paused. "She's gonna tell everyone, isn't she?" Ron sadly nodded, and Harry felt... scared. Confident too, though.

"Fine."

* * *

"You're saying you're a girl?" McGonagall said, and although her tone was clinical, it was clear she had some thoughts on the matter. Good or bad, Harry couldn't place. Harry nodded. Harry and Hermione - well, mostly Hermione, since Harry was stammering all over the topic - had explained everything to Professor McGonagall, choosing not to mention Ginny's behavior, just that 'another student had found out'.

"And Ms. Granger, why exactly do you know so much about this topic?"

"My parents, they work a lot of patients." Hermione said quickly. Harry found that odd, since her parents were dentists, but she didn't know. McGonagall nodded, looking at Harry.

"Well then, I suppose the obvious thing is to move your dormitory." McGonagall said, before a warm smile showed on her lips. "And Miss Potter?" She asked, and Harry looked at her.

"Someone close to me was a lot like you. The, er, the other direction, I suppose, but same overall thing." McGonagall said sadly. "They, er, they left." She stammered, voice cracking. "I won't let it happen to one of my students too. If any of the other girls give you a hard time, bring it to me."

"Y-yes, ma'am. Thank you." Harry said, blushing a bit. It was somewhat hopeful to know that she had support in at least one teacher.

As they were walking back, Hermione and Harry were talking. "Uh, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking at the girl-who-lived. "When Ron came over, you flinched. Did you think he was mad?"

Harry shook her head, and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, I did, but that's not why."

Hermione's eyes widened, but she seemed to shrug off the thought before walking. "I promise, it'll be okay."

The walk was relatively quiet, and Harry arrived back, to what appeared to be a small group of people. Word had spread quickly through the common room, and Harry knew the whole school would by week's end.

To Harry's surprise, the two that broke up the crowd were the twins.

"So, I guess you pranked us, ehh, Harry?" Fred said, carrying a pile of stuff that belonged to Harry.

"We can't bring these up for you, but we got them out. So you should be able to switch."

Harry thanked the twins, and with a lot less fanfare than expected, managed to get situated. Curling up in blankets as though to hide from the air itself, Harry quickly fell asleep, uncertain of her future.

* * *

When Harry awoke from a dreamless sleep, it was the fastest Harry had ever left the dormitories. She was, in all fairness, quite scared to stay. She knew she had Hermione on her side, but she had Ginny against, and zero clue where the other Gryffindors fell. She was hopeful that there'd be more Hermione than Ginny's among the girls.

At the Great Hall, Pigwidgeon arrived with what appeared to be a letter from Sirius:

> Dear Harry,
> 
> Congrats on getting past the Chinese Fireball. I bet the person who put your name isn't exactly thrilled. I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, blind the dragon, but trying to use your Firebolt was a good idea, as was the Invisibility. I'm sorry about what happened to the Firebolt, but it can be replaced: you can't. If you want, just write back to me asking and I'll replace it for you if want, Lord knows I'm not using the family inheritance.
> 
> I wouldn't get complacent yet, though. There's still two more tasks to watch out for, and if the person we discussed is near, I'd keep an eye out. Just keep yourself out of trouble. You have the Map, use it the way we did - don't get caught in a bad situation.
> 
> Keep in touch, I want to hear about anything unusual.
> 
> -Padfoot
> 
> P.S., I meant to say it last time, but you looked so much like your mother. She and James, they'd be proud.

Blushing at the postscript, Harry shared the letter around with Ron and Hermione, who commented on it.

"That's what Krum did, actually. The Conjunctivitis Curse." Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah. Nice to offer replacing the Firebolt." Ron added.

"Should I tell Sirius abou..." Harry started, but Hermione cut her off.

"If you want." Hermione said. "I would, but it's your call. I don't think he'd be disappointed."

The day from there turned into a bit of everything, including the trip to Hogsmeade - the last one before the Ball. At Hermione's insistence - and Ron's disappointment - she led Harry into one of Hogsmeade's shops to find something pretty for the Ball (which was quickly approaching). They also stopped by Honeydukes and The Three Broomsticks. The day seemed to slip by fast, before in due time, the days turned into seconds, as Christmas Eve was ending...

* * *

The next morning, Harry tried to ignore the pounding headache, as it was Christmas day. Spending most of the early day in Gryffindor Tower, things were, lightly put, wonderful. Presents, food, and comapny that Harry was grateful to have. By the time afternoon rolled around, they were outside, in a snowball fight. Hermione had even joined, and to everyone's - even Hermione's - surprise, she was by far the best player on the field.

At around five o'clock, Hermione started tugging on Harry's sleeve. "We should probably go get ready." Hermione said, and Ron looked at them confused.

"What do you need three hours for?" Ron asked, looking at her incredulously. The price for his curiosity was an earful of snow from George's impressive toss.

In the Gryffindor common room, Hermione helped Harry get ready for the Ball. Harry had always thought good makeup was like magic, but she was quite surprised how well magic made helped in the process. A few other girls seemed to offer their support, with a big exception.

"Really, Lavender?" Came a voice. Ginny. "Surely you know this is stupid, right?"

Lavender looked at Ginny, telling her to back off. Harry left useless, and with other people defending her, she was feeling about two inches tall.

"Harry, you're a good guy." Ginny said, frowning. "But this is ridiculous."

"Ginny..." Lavender warned, and suddenly Harry saw why. Hermione's wand - which had remained untouched for the better part of an hour, was currently now in Hermione's tight grip.

"I mean, it's not me who's being a fucking cr-"

Hermione snapped, muttering a curse under her breath. Ginny started to try and talk, but found herself unable to. "Leave her alone." Hermione said sternly.

After a short silent row, they resumed, and before anyone knew it, it was nearly eight.

Stepping from the dormitory shyly, Harry saw other people - including Ron, who was currently very thankful for having replacements for his garish robes. Since Harry had gotten the dress with Hermione, she had given Ron the formal outfit she had bought before the year's start.

Hermione left, looking for her date, and Ron and Harry met up. He seemed surprised.

"We are just going as friends, right?" Ron joked, gesturing to Harry's dress and makeup.

"I, uh, I haven't actually seen myself." Harry admitted. "I just trusted Hermione and Lavender's judgement. Uh..." She paused, looking around. "L-Lavender, d-do you have a mirror?" She asked, a bit scared.

Lavender nodded, darting quickly up the stairs - far quicker than heels should've allowed - before coming back with a pocket mirror. "Sorry we forgot to show you."

"Oh my..." Harry said, surprised. Harry knew what the dress had looked like, a bright emerald green that fit really, really nicely. It was comfortable, but seemed to shimmer brightly in even the dark-ish lighting of the halls. But the makeup... For the first time, Harry didn't see her father or her mother in the mirror, but rather herself. Her auburn hair and bright green eyes seemed to, for once, be her own. The makeup made her face look younger and older, more professional, and honestly... She looked beautiful.

She nearly cried, but instead hugged Lavender, much to the other girl's surprise. "I-It's just makeup." Lavender insisted, but she hugged Harry back.

"S-so, uh... Yeah. We should get going."

The entrance hall was packed, and Harry and Ron walked in, waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to open up at last. The oaken doors opened, and Harry heard McGonagall's voice over the crowd.

"Will the Champions please come forth, so we can begin?" She asked politely, but loudly. Harry and Ron walked up, noticing the people. Fleur and her partner, a Roger Davies from Hogwarts; Cedric and Cho Chang, one of the Ravenclaws; and... Next to Viktor Krum, was none other than Hermione.

So that's who she went out with, Harry thought, a spark of some emotion inside her. Huh.

Getting in place, McGonagall gave the approval for the champions to start the first dance. Desperately trying not to trip on her own feet - or Ron's -, Harry led, and the first dance couldn't have been over sooner. They could overhear Krum talking to Hermione, who, while she was listening, seemed more interested in the information then the person saying it. Fleur was no better, talking the ears off of her partner. Cedric and Cho seemed lost in their own little world, and Harry looked at Ron.

"First rule of the night, no kissing." She joked, and the two laughed. Awkward as this Ball may be, at least they were friends.

As the night continued, people started getting more and more eventful, and the dancing went from the calm to the excited to whatever was in-between.

Eventually, at around half past ten, it died down a bit, and there were some seats on the side where a circle of friends met up. Ron and Harry had met Hermione at a table.

"So, you're going with Viktor Krum?" Ron said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. To his surprise, Hermione frowned.

"Yeah." She said sullenly. "I mean, he's a good guy, but..." She shrugged. "I told him to continue without me." She brushed it off. "I'll be fine, I guess he's just not the type for me." She said, laughing it off.

The three friends talked for awhile, commenting on what it was like, and as the night continued, the Champions seemed to exchange partners for a bit, as per some old tradition. As Cedric and Harry were dancing, the Hufflepuff leaned in and whispered to Harry.

"Listen, your egg... It, uh, it screams, right? When you open it?" Cedric whispered lowly, just loud enough to Harry to hear. After she nodded, the older champion nodded back. "Try opening under the water." Cedric said. "Tell you what, use the prefects’ bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password’s ‘pine fresh." Harry nodded back, and Cedric smiled. "Thanks."

Eventually, the night itself was coming to an end. The night felt carefree, and as midnight rolled around, Harry finally left the Ball, heading back to the Common Room. It wasn't long before she was changed into something more fashionable and sound asleep.

As she started to doze off, she realized: aside from Ginny, everyone had been fine. That was a pleasant thought before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I will not be shipping Ron and Harry. I mostly have a different reason for that long-term, but short term it's just to send two established characters to the Ball together.
> 
> As for Ginny, _yep_. There will be more than just Rita who stands against this, and for some of them, it'll be who you least expect. I bet no one would believe Draco Malfoy decides to be nice about this if it gets out, would you? Exactly. It's not exactly pulling the wool over your eyes, I'd like to think. Life is unpredictable, and some of the people who you expect to be the best allies turn out to be the literal worst.
> 
> To clear it up, although I likely will later, Ginny followed Hermione, and nearly literally dragged her out, trying to figure out how Harry 'tricked' the stairs. Hermione, in a fearful and confused daze, let it slip, and while Ron was instantly supportive - _you're my best friend, guy or girl_ , and while he may not understand it really at all, he's gonna try - Ginny was quite a bit less so. Falls kind of into the category of thinking it's creepy and perv-y, if I had to guess. I'd like to hope she warms up, since she's generally a really nice girl, but who knows. Some people can't be swayed. ~~Well, I know perfectly, but that's for me to know, you to find out.~~
> 
> As for Hermione and Krum, they had no real chemistry to me, so... Cutting room floor, buh-bye!
> 
> This is by far the longest chapter yet. I doubt I'll have another chapter like this for a short bit, but who knows _shrug_.


	7. It's Slander if Spoken, Libel in Print

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cw: transphobia. not mild.

Over the next few days, life seemed to somewhat stabilize. Harry's fears of hatred seemed rather unfounded, and despite all the odds, Harry being a girl seemed to have become the best kept secret in the school, as only the other Gryffindors (and maybe the teachers) seemed to know, barring some exceptions - a letter to Sirius, the rest of the Weasleys, and some few smaller exceptions. The only student who even considered saying anything was Ginny, before she was pulled aside and politely threatened by Hermione.

There was one person who was a big exception to that rule, which was found out on the following Monday, when the _Daily Prophet_ released a new issue. It was Ginny who saw it first.

"Harry, you need to stop this," Ginny said, "here's why." Tossing the _Daily Prophet_ issue across the table. Harry, confused, read the headline, and what appeared to be a shifting picture between Harry from her third-year, and one from the Triwizard Tournament's wand weighing.

> _FEMININE DELUSIONS OF THE BOY WHO LIVED_

Harry's stomach dropped, and Ron looked over her shoulder, reading the headline. "Oh goddammit."

> _RITA SKEETER - It appears our hopes and dreams have been misfounded, misplaced, and above all, has simply been mischief managed by the drama king that is Harry Potter. Indeed, Harry Potter, in some absurd delusion, has decided that he's a girl, even managed to confound the enchanted stairs in Hogwarts' girl's dormitory._
> 
> _Indeed, Harry Potter seems to have gotten it in his head he is something the Muggle world calls a transgender; frowned upon heavily even in Muggle society, a transgender is born with the belief that they a person born in the wrong body, or at least is the claim._
> 
> _Having taken_ Feminea Inextensi _, a potion commonly frowned upon due to its use as a date-rape drug, Mister Potter has managed to befuddle and confuse students of Hogwarts into believing he's a girl. Of course, what changed, and what shifted our hero - hero, never heroine - from a hero in the glory of the Light to a menace of the Dark?_
> 
> _Of course, it would likely be his muggleborn friend, Hermione Granger. Born to Muggle doctors, Ms. Granger seems to be under the ludicrous idea that this transgenderism is normal, and should even be allowed in society, as though it's healthy to encourage such malicious behavior. Perhaps Ms. Granger herself is similarly a man in disguise, a question I would have wanted to ask should I had been given the chance to meet._
> 
> _No matter Ms. Granger's alignment, however, it is still disappointing to hear that our so-called hero is a self-proclaimed heroine._
> 
> _In retrospect, perhaps we should've realized: there has been many problems with the Boy Who Lived since his debut in the spotlight: ranging from vanishing from the earth for nearly a decade, the death of Quirinus Quirrell and Nicolas Flamel after his arrival, the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, the release of Sirius Black, being chosen in the Triwizard Tournament, and a blossoming relationship between him and classmate Ronald Weasley. This, among hundreds of others, are reasons to believe perhaps Harry Potter is not a hero to be idolized, but rather no better than the Dark Lord he helped vanish thirteen years ago._
> 
> _Interviewing many people, including friends of Harry Potter, teachers, and even Harry Potter himself ..._
> 
> _(_ con't _, pages 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12)_

Harry felt frozen in place as she read it, but even after, she couldn't will herself to move.

Now _everyone_ knew. She was going to get expelled, or worse, she was going to die. She couldn't cry, couldn't move, just feeling petrified in place, scared to so much as breathe. It wasn't long before people finished reading it, even in the school, and then she was... Her breathing started getting erratic, and she put the paper down, covering her head with her hands, as though trying to hide from the world.

"What's with the..." She froze, reading the headline, the article's contents. She fumbled with the pages, glancing at the text quickly, as though looking for flaws instead of reading the article. With each word she did read, Hermione's grip on the paper became tighter and tighter. "How was she abl... That's not... She wasn't..." She muttered quietly, skimming through it, noticing flaws and details that made zero sense, even points that contradicting the very article.

"Ooh, Harry..." She said finally, putting the paper down and hugging Harry. "Do you want to g-" Harry nodded, feeling unable to speak. "Ron, can yo- thank you." She started, before pulling Harry up. Hermione led Harry to the same bathroom where things had begun, where Harry had first taken the potion. Hermione was assuring Harry things were going to be fine, but everything felt... out of focus, hazy.

Arriving in the bathroom, Harry slumped in a corner, and finally, alone in a place without people watching, without needing to be the heroic girl who lived, she cried. Hard.

Everything felt like it was cascading down, and Harry was too busy crying to see Hermione leave.

* * *

Hermione was not generally one for violence. She liked to think so, anyway. She had only hurt one person before, at least intentionally. She was a relatively self-contained spirit, who while maybe she would argue, would very rarely come to blows. She could honestly say there was a very short list of people she had physically assaulted, and Draco Malfoy was the only person at Hogwarts on that entire list.

Ginny Weasley quickly found out she was officially second, third, and fourth of that list.

"What the hell, Ginny? Rita Skeeter?" Hermione snapped, and just as Ginny finished getting up, Hermione threw another punch. "I thought she was your friend!"

Ginny dodged the next punch, getting up. "He is." She started, ignoring Hermione's correction, "Which is why I'm doing this. He needs to... he needs to wake up. I mean, this is ridi-"

Hermione threw another punch, and Ginny hit the wall and slumped, having been unprepared for that.

"If you really cared, you'd support her. Let's assume she was wrong, she'll find out on her own. Without you going to Rita Skeeter, poison-pen artist, and telling the whole. World." Hermione said pointedly. The fourth-year was to throw another punch, but Ginny dodged again, getting up and backing up some distance from Hermione.

"It's for his own goo-"

"Oh for the love of- Densaugeo!" Hermione screamed, firing a hex at Ginny. The violet light shot out from her wand, hitting Ginny square in the face. It wasn't a pretty sight, as Ginny's front teeth were now growing at an alarming rate, looking more and more like a beaver with each passing second.

Ginny looked panicked, and Hermione, satisfied with hopefully teaching some lesson, turned to leave.

* * *

Hermione arrived, to see Harry, exactly where she was when Hermione had left. The crying had stopped, but Hermione could still hear Harry sniffling, on the ground. Deciding to forget Ginny's willing interview, Hermione sat down next to Harry.

"Are you o..." She started asking, but the girl huddled in the corner shook her head no. Hermione, silently, scooted beside Harry, hand on her back.

"It'll be okay." Hermione said. "Hogwarts would be supportive, I doubt the teachers will let people harass you for this."

Harry merely sniffled in response. Hermione tried to cheer Harry up, but nothing worked.

Hermione and Harry sat there for the better part of an hour, and only after awhile did Harry say anything.

"I'm sorr-, I'm sorry." Harry choked out, and Hermione looked at her confused.

"W-what do you me-"

"M-maybe..." Harry seemed at a loss for words. "Now y-you and R-Ron will be harassed, j-just because..." She stammered, and Hermione cut her off with a hug. "M-maybe Ginny's ri-"

"No." Hermione said sharply. "She isn't. You're happier, right?" Harry nodded. "That's what matters. If she can't see it when even the twins have been supportive for so long, then it's her who's got it backwards." Hermione said, rubbing Harry's back. Harry sighed.

"But..." She stammered, looking for words, opting to just hug Hermione instead.

They remained like that for awhile, even when a teacher came inside and looked at the two. Neither student seemed to notice, and the teacher politely left.

After another hour - although it felt like a week for Harry - she got up.

"I... I need to face this." She said. "I can't... I can't stay here for the rest of the year."

"Harry. It'll be okay." Hermione said, before adding as a thought, "Do you want me to stick by you?" Harry nodded, and they left.

Slowly going back to the common room, they returned, and even for just a little bit, while the dormitory was empty, Hermione spent time with Harry. The girl who lived couldn't even begin to thank her enough, but Hermione waved it off whenever she tried.

It was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ginny. Ginny. Ginny. Although magnified, based on an experience I had in real life, thanks to one teacher decided to out me in front of my just-fifteen-seconds-ago homophobic class. Lovely /s. No one tried to punch the teacher though. Also, finally used Densaugeo: it never got used here, because that initial feud between Malfoy and Harry never occured. Since I wanted to include the spell, it came here.
> 
> If it wasn't clear enough from how everything else Rita said was a lie, Feminea Inextensi is _not_ a date rape drug. I picture it was once considered one, maybe, but overtime, it's been deemed fine. I picture it would be the kind of thing that would be taught in an eighth year of Hogwarts, if one existed. Headcanon your own thing, though, I'm not Rowling.
> 
> Shorter chapter, but the next chapter will be the entire Second Task. To make up for being a lackluster chapter story-progression-wise, you get two chapters today. I _might_ count this as tomorrow's chapter though.


	8. Underwater Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the second task.

The prefect's bathroom was sparkling, that was for certain.

It had been only the day before when the world came crashing down around Harry, and so, her plan was amazingly healthy - plunge herself into the Second Task and preparing for it so she didn't have to face Ginny or her classmates from the other Houses. As unhappy as she was, Hermione decided to let Harry have this one day - not two, she insisted, one - and so Harry was here, in the bathroom, waiting for the water to fill up the tub.

The prefect bathroom was amazing, Harry thought, and worth becoming Prefect just to use. Softly lit by a pretty candle-filled chandelier, and a polished marble floor, with space for what looked almost like an inset swimming pool. A hundred golden taps, each with a different color gem embedded, were around the circular tub, and from the rack of towels, it appeared to be full of bright whites and golds, and honestly looked really good.

She was not here to appreciate the bathroom.

Once the tub was filled, she removed everything, and deciding to take Cedric's advice, brought the egg under the water.

She held her breath, uncertain at first, but decided to crack the egg open under the water - it only made sense. Bracing for a howling scream like before, she was greeted by a pleasant surprise.

_Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground,  
And while you're searching ponder this;  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took,  
But past an hour, the prospect's black,  
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

Harry took her head out of the water, gasping.

"Ooh! You look different!" Came a voice, and Harry shrieked, dropping the egg in the water. Covering her chest out of some unknown reflex, she turned to see Moaning Myrtle. It suddenly dawned on Harry, she hadn't been in the bathroom where she had died recently, or at least not when she was there last.

"M-Myrtle!" She exclaimed, surprised.

"It's been awhile. You look... good." The ghost said, giggling a bit. "So, you solved it?"

Harry nodded. "I-I think?"

Myrtle giggled, floating very close to the girl who lived. "That's good. So, maybe you wanna stick around? For me?" Harry shivered, Myrtle freaked her out every time. 

"I really have to go," Harry excused, getting up. "Can you look away? Thank you." Harry got up, dried off, and dressed to leave. Before leaving, she wrote the poem down on a piece of paper. Using the Invisibility Cloak, and carrying the egg and Marauder's Map, Harry started a-walking back.

It wasn't long before an interruption in the form of dropping the Golden Egg and the Map. Outside of Filch's office. Which wasn't far from Snape.

Harry held her breath, scared to so much as breathe, and thing seemed dire until Mad-Eye Moody walked around the bend.

Moody looked directly at Harry, and the magical eye seemed to spin at her specifically, even as he turned and started talking to Snape and Filch. They conversed over the Egg, and Snape pointed out someone had broke into his office.

"And there's..." Snape trailed off. "That. Parchment." He glared, and Harry realized what he saw. The Marauder's Map. "That parchment, this egg, belongs to Potter. Where is-" Snape stammered, as though unsure how to refer to Harry. "Where's Potter?" The potions master settled on. Mad-Eye's eye landed on it, as did Snape, and they both cast spells as different times.

"Accio parchment!"; "Incendio!"

Harry nearly yelped as the Map was set ablaze. Moody quelled the fire.

"This? I bought this myself, Severus." He said, his eyes rolling across the torched front. "It was the last, too, Severus, so don't be so hasty next time." His magical eye darted from Harry to focus on the Map...

It wasn't long before the teachers left, and Mad-Eye walked up to Harry, and ripped the Cloak off of her. "So, Potter... This is yours?" Harry nodded. "Marauder's Map, what's that?"

"I, uh, I found it. In my third year. It's a map of the school." Harry said, and Mad-Eye seemed content.

"Have it back, Potter. Be more careful." Moody said, smirking. He looked at the egg he had taken off of Filch's hands. "As for this, do you want it back? Or could I study it myself?"

Harry shrugged. "Feel free. I think I solved it." With a nod, Moody left, and, now no longer needing to carry the egg, she hurried back to the common room, carrying the torched map.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Harry looked at the map, surveying the damage. Moody had quelled the fire fast, but still, the damage was irreversible. The map had been folded, and the burn appeared in the center, so while parts were in tact, there was almost a dozen holes of varying sizes charring through the pages - the seventh floor corridors, the corridor near Snape's classrooms, the majority of the dungeons, and the exit to Honeydukes, to name a few. It was frustrating.

But, she felt herself slipping, tired, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep on the chairs in the common room.

* * *

"Harry? Wake up..." came the voice of Ron Weasley.

For the past few nights, Harry had fell asleep on the couch, too tired and scared to return to the dormitory. And now, was Monday - the day everyone came back to Hogwarts, and the day of the Second Task.

"You should get, uh, dressed, and ready." Ron said. "I also think I figured out what you need to do." Ron explained how over the night, he had tried talking to teachers, and managed to get something called gillyweed from Professor Sprout. Harry nodded, grateful, before getting up.

Half an hour later, Harry was sprinting across the field, a small bit of gillyweed from Professor Sprout in hand, towards the clearing where the Tasks were to be held.

Arriving, Harry could see a huge clearing, space for spectators to watch. It was currently completely empty, but Harry was glad to have arrived on time. There, was also Cedric, Viktor, Fleur - that was no surprise, the other champions - as well as the headmasters. Percy was here on behalf on Mr. Crouch, Ludo Bagman was here as a judge...

And Rita Skeeter was here for interview. In fact, she was currently in a row with Dumbledore, and while both of their demeanors were calm, the air around them felt stained.

"You have slandered one of my students, Ms. Skeeter." Dumbledore was saying. "You can write your articles about me if you want, but he's a fourteen year old, in the midd-"

"Yes, exactly, and the world wants to know about the Boy Who Lived." Rita said calmly, filing her nails against the palm of her right hand.

"You aren't permitted on these premis-" Dumbledore said calmly, although his temper seemed to be rising.

"For the Triwizard Tournament I am, I'm the designated reporter."

"But Ms. Skee-"

"And it's not slander, slander is spoken." Rita pointedly added, before turning to leave. Her eyes instantly fell on Harry. "Aah, Mister Potter."

"Miss Potter." Harry corrected, knowing she was going to just handwave it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again." She said, sticking out her right hand, and Harry saw the skin was scratched up and raw. "Well, Potter?"

"Why did you..." Harry asked, her voice rising faster than she thought.

"Publish the truth? Because the wo-"

Harry had enough already, and with a slight touch of profanity, left Rita's presence, much to the journalist's annoyance.

"You're scared of the truth, Potter. Admit it now, and maybe the world will see this as a small slip."

Harry sat in a corner, far away from the journalist, and Cedric walked over.

"Hey, Harry." He said, looking at the girl who lived.

"'ello." Harry muttered.

"Look, I don't know why she hates you, but, uh..." Cedric stammered. "You're a good guy." Sentiment appreciated and wording with lots to be desired, Harry thanked Cedric, and started focusing on the stadiums filling up, as Rita interviewed the judges. Harry wondered where Ron and Hermione were in the stands, but it was too far away to tell.

Half an hour from there, an influx of students arrived - students who had gone home for the Christmas break - and the stadium filled up.

" _Sonorus_." Bagman said quietly behind Harry, before speaking, his voice bouncing of the very clouds themselves it seemed like. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle." Bagman shouted into the field. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them, lest they lose it forever!" He looked at the champion, before holding up three fingers.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

Not looking at the other champions, Harry proceeded to swallow the gillyweed, jumping into the water. She was wishing Ron had told her what this did, but she quickly found out as a burning sensation streaked across her neck. Ooh... Gills. Gillyweed. That made sense. Harry could feel her fingers and toes warping, becoming webbed.

As a transformation occurred, Harry could feel something twisting inside of her painful, and she dove in the water regardless. As she hit the water, the twisting left, and she realized that, despite being cold and murky, it felt... almost warm, and inviting. She swam through the water, looking for something - no merpeople, no champions, no giant squid (thankfully), and nothing that could be deemed a "sorely missed"...

Swimming further and further, time felt like it was going away fast, when Harry heard another poem being sung through the water.

_The time has slipped, a quarter gone  
The bodies bound, you hear our song_

_The bodies bound?_ Harry couldn't help but get nervous off that line alone, but in due time, Harry passed by something - some rock above? - that plunged the area in darkness. Harry was stuck swimming in darkness, the only light guiding her being the ambient lighting of the sun from the other end of the lake, and small cracks in the rock ceiling above.

_Your time’s half gone, so tarry not_  
_Lest what you seek stays here to rot_

Just as the words finished, Harry's eyes laid upon what appeared to be four statues, tied up to some sort of rock... Wait, those weren't... stat...

Harry felt a burst of worry in her, as she realized who it was on that rock - Cho Chang, Cedric's girlfriend; a Durmstrang girl; a girl who seemed to be around eight, with the same silver hair as Fleur; and as the fourth was Hermione.

Harry rushed over to Hermione, looking at her. The ropes seemed to be tight. Really tight. Because of the webbed hands, dexterity was not a strong suit, so she went for the second best - she pulled out her wand, and tried to cast a spell to cut the ropes.

The words came out of her mouth as bubbles, and all that happened was her wand sparking helplessly. She looked around, before seeing a jagged piece of rock, quite some distance below. Swimming down to grab, Harry came back up and started cutting Hermione loose, being careful to avoid injury.

With one final motion, the rope snapped with a ripple in the water, and Harry pulled back her hand - not soon enough, as the jagged rock had cut into Hermione's skin on the final swipe.

Harry looked at the other three, and felt relieved seeing Cedric Diggory - who had some giant bubble around his head, like a helmet - pull out some switchblade and quickly cut Cho loose and left. Annoyed at his fellow student's actions, she saw Krum arrive next, transformed as some weird mix of a shark and a man. Helping Krum get the Durmstrang girl loose, Harry turned her attention to the eight-year old girl.

If Harry had to guess, it was Fleur's sister. Fleur was nowhere to be seen, and time was running out.

Harry decided.

Cutting Fleur's sister loose, Harry held both Hermione and Fleur's sister, and started swimming back, just as a poem rang through the water.

_Remember death, we're at the end  
Your time ran out to save your friend_

With her, the young girl and Hermione both starting stirring, and Harry felt herself swimming faster, to avoid either of them getting hurt. As the sky went from a murky black to the sky's green-water haze color, Harry dove up, breaking through the water.

Swimming back, Harry arrived to three things - an arguing trifecta of judges; a panicking Fleur Delacour, and the champions who had returned and their 'hostages' wrapped up in blankets to get warmer.

Fleur was in hysterics, and seemed to be physically fighting Ludo Bagman to return to the water. "Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Iz she alive? Iz she ’urt?" Eyes resting on Harry, the champion seemed to relax significantly, slumping helplessly as she waited for Harry to return fully.

People got their wits together, and in due time the scoring was here - Fleur thanking Harry for saving Gabrielle. Although Dumbledore insisted she was never in any actual danger, the amount of water and choking both Hermione and Gabrielle seemed to experience made Harry doubt that statement, at least a bit.

The scores placed Harry on a tie with Cedric, to her surprise and bewilderment.

"You did-" Hermione started with a choked voice, before coughing again. It was clear that despite being on land for almost half an hour now, not all of the water was out of her lungs. "You did it!" She hugged Harry, and even gave her a light peck on the cheek. "You did it!"

Harry couldn't help but blush for some reason, but as the excitement from being in first - at least, tied with Cedric for first - was wearing thin fast to the realization of what would happen when she returned to the castle.

Still. She wanted this victory, so this victory she was having.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big bombshell, why was Hermione given to Harry and an unnamed Durmstrang girl to Krum? Well, it was a domino effect. Because of two big facts, Hermione was not able to do SPEW, due to helping Harry with the social transition after taking Feminea Inextensi. As such, she never felt the need to get into the kitchen, and in fact currently still doesn't know. Because of this, she never saw Dobby here at Hogwarts, Dobby either doesn't know or isn't supposed to meet up with Harry; and as such Dobby couldn't give Harry the gillyweed. So, someone needed to help with the idea, and also make sure she was up in time for the Task.
> 
> Playing into a secondary chain reaction set off by that second fact (which is still secret), Hermione and Krum didn't hit it off at all in this ~~nor in the original ugh chemistry what chemistry~~ , so Hermione was off the table for Krum. As such, this means that Krum would not be rescuing the girl he danced with at the Yule Ball that he barely remembers her name, so as such, Krum got someone else. This meant Hermione and Ron were vying for the same spot as Harry's "sorely missed"; since I want this fic to lean towards Harry/Hermione, that meant Hermione was the one to be taken.
> 
> This cleared two issues, as now Ron was able to help Harry the day to wake her up, on top of helping with the idea of gillyweed. Bravo, me!
> 
> The Marauder's Map is proving a plotline problem for the future, both near and far. In so many respects. So I am sorry Harry, but it had to be burned. She can keep part of it, but it needs enough damage to fix my problems.
> 
> Also, I've committed to doing Harry/Hermione I think, I suck at writing relationships so uh bear with me
> 
> As for the chapter name, Underwater Secrets is the name of the Golden Egg's song from the film!Goblet of Fire's OST
> 
> FINALLY, next chapter will focus on the ramifications of the article Rita wrote, considering most of the Hogwarts student (Malfoy included) returned after Harry arrived for the task. So, uh, be warned.


	9. Sneering Howls and Raving Reveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things feel a bit more constrained then did they did before...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: transphobia, slurs
> 
> Also, for anyone unaware, I went back into the chapter where the Map gets burned and made the damage more clear - the Map is damaged, but operational. It just has some blind spots caused by fire.

If Harry could be anywhere but Hogwarts right now, that'd be lovely, she thought.

Harry stepped back in the Great Hall as quietly as she could, having just changed into something more dry. And despite the quiet, all eyes were on her. This was it. Her first day where all her classmates, the ones who had been gone for holiday, were _here_.

Rushing as quietly as possible to the Gryffindor table, she sat down next to Ron and Hermione, where she was too nervous to eat. All she could focus on was the whispers, people quipping back and forth with their friends - all Houses, and it seemed like all years.

"So you think Rita's right?"; "Of course she is."

"Apparently he's already switched dormitories."; "That fast? Really?"

"He probably just wants the spotlight."; "He didn't 'put his name in the Goblet' either, remember?"

Harry's breathing was getting erratic, was getting worse, choked up, and Hermione and Ron both seemed concerned. Harry couldn't tune out the talking, the rumors, the quips, and she didn't even notice her friends trying to reassure her. Most of her fellow Gryffindors seemed to be waiting with bated breath, as though scared to say anything in Harry's presence - that presence being a key factor.

With each sentence, Harry felt smaller and smaller. But there was one voice she hadn't heard for most of it, until she got up and tried to leave.

After Ginny decided to be the first Gryffindor to start the talking - not that Harry stuck around to hear her - she got up and started rushing out the doors, even at the request of Ron and Hermione to stay.

She shouldn't have been surprised when she saw a fourth-year in green robes in the way.

"I've heard of blood traitors before." Came a familiar voice, cutting the girl who lived off. "There's those that sympathize with the Mudbloods, there's those who ruin everything." Draco Malfoy scoffed, leaning in front of the small hallway door that would've led to the Gryffindor common room. "But at least the Mudbloods didn't _choose_ to be _broken_."

"Move, Malfoy." Harry said, voice breaking. _She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to cr-_

"Or else what? Your tranny friends will hex me?" Draco sneered, taking two steps forward. Harry stepped back, and stammered, trying to speak. "Or you'll go crying to Dumbledore? Hell, you'll go crying anyway."

"Please." Harry said, and Harry silently, for the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, deeply regretted having made bad relations with Malfoy on a first day.

"And why should I?" Draco asked, smirking, and he pulled out his wand. "If you want parts gone _so_ much, I'm _sure_ there's a curse that'll suffice. Maybe a Blasting Cu-?"

"Mr. Malfoy, that'll be enough from you, and one hundred points from Slytherin." Came a voice.

Harry turned to the voice, surprised at who it was. Severus Snape.

"B-but, it's your hou-" Draco started to argue, and Snape muttered something, waving his wand, and Draco stopped talking.

"Exactly, and I'm currently appalled to say you're a Slytherin." Snape said, walking up to the two of them. "Triple detention with me, too." Before Draco could start to argue, "Whatever your outlooks on Potter's lifestyle may be, it does not give you the grounds to threaten a fellow student, with a Blasting Curse of all spells."

"But he's being a goddamn atten-"

"That's another ten points." Snape said. "Go to the dormitories. I will deal with you later." Malfoy stammered nothing in particular, before leaving.

"As for you, Potter, I'm taking fifty points from Gryffindor for leaving the Great Hall with such an outburst. Go to your dormitory, remain there until end of day." Snape said coldly, before following Malfoy's path.

Harry paused a second, confused, before jumping to her legs and running to the common room. Halfway there, she felt the tears starting to run down her face, terrified.

* * *

"Harry, oh my, what happened?" Hermione asked, running into the girls' dormitory. She had left a short bit after Harry. She and Ron were gonna leave right away, but Ron started arguing with Ginny again; it was only after almost ten minutes and an arrival of the Daily Prophet did Ron finally tell Hermione to go without him. "Harr-"

Hermione's voice choked up, as she saw Harry. Or didn't see. Harry was on her bed, which was already in the further back corner, with the blankets wrapped at her back, so no one could see her. The only sign she was even here at all was the person-shaped lump on her bed, and the sobbing sounds coming from it.

Hermione was mad, yes, from Rita Skeeter's brand new article about Harry Potter's Muggleborn girlfriend; but seeing Harry like this caused that frustration to dissolve, as she moved closer to Harry and started rubbing the girl's back.

It was quiet, and it seemed like no other Gryffindor girls seemed daring enough to leave the Great Hall and come back here, so they had the room to themselves.

"I'm..." Harry stammered, choking on her words. "I can't do this." She said with such conviction that Hermione nearly cried for Harry's sake.

"Harry." Hermione said, turning Harry's head so they could see each other's eyes. "Just because Ginny and the other students have their wand up their ass, doesn't make them right." She said, and she hugged Harry, whispering gently to her, "Everything will be okay, I promise." She said, holding Harry tightly.

"H-...Hermione?" Harry started quietly, just loud enough for the other girl to hear. "D-do you mind if I s-sleep?" She asked, and Hermione felt caught off-guard that Harry was asking.

"Of course. Do you want me to stay here?" Hermione asked, "Make sure no one bugs you?" Harry nodded quietly, and with a word of confirmation, turned over and started sleeping.

Hermione quietly pulled out some loose schoolwork to work on, and as the Gryffindors filed into the dorm, she maybe might have grabbed the blankets from her own bed to try and make a sound barrier of sorts. Or how she led Ginny out of the dormitory before flying of the handle at her.

* * *

It was a rough week for Harry.

Each day was playing out the same - breakfast began as it did before the break. Then classes begun, and Snape's class was hell, McGonagall's a break from the pressure of everything, and the other classes being so and so. Lunch was when people started the whispers, and by dinner, those whispers were full-blown discussions. Harry had started getting... used to it, in the most loose sense of the term.

And then, Friday rolled around.

For Ginny's sake, Harry was truly glad that it arrived after dinner instead of the Great Hall for all to hear, but a small red envelope arrived in the Gryffindor common room for her. Harry had missed parts of it, arriving late, but she heard the familiar voice of Molly Weasley, and a completely surprised and seemingly-humiliated Ginny on the receiving end of a red Howler.

" ** _-AND TO GO TO THAT SKEETER LADY AND FURTHER MAKE THE PROBLEM WORSE, I HONESTLY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF NO ONE WAS HAPPY WITH YOU, I'M HORRIBLY DISAPPOINTED IN-_** "

It was loud. Harry had to cover her ears to avoid a sudden migraine, and that wasn't enough to even block it out enough to stop making out the words.

" _ **-C** **AN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS, BUT FRED AND GEORGE, WITH THAT JOKE SHOP FANTASY AND ALL THE TROUBLE THEY CAUSE, HAVE BEEN MORE WELL BEHAVED A HUNDREDFOLD, AND FURTHERMORE-**_ "

Fred and George - who were in fact in the common room - seemed to take offense at the 'joke shop fantasy' line, but were too busy watching the Howler unfold. As Harry got closer, Fred tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mum's been going for around twenty minutes now." Fred yelled, and Harry could just make it out over the screaming. "She's been calming down, believe it or not."

" _ **-WEASLEY NAME, AND AS FOR THE CRUSH YOU SAY YOU HAVE ON HIM, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF HARRY NEVER WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN AFTER YOU PULLED THIS STUNT ON-**_ "

 _Oh that was new_ , Harry thought. Ginny had a crush on her? Had, has? Either way, Harry couldn't help but agree with the sentiment, Ginny had possibly messed up any chances.

" _ **-HAVE TO GO, BUT WHEN THE SEMESTER'S OVER WE ARE HAVING A LONG TALK GINEVRA AND I HOPE THATS CLEAR!**_ "

As the end of the Howler arrived, the red envelope combusted into a small burst of flame, curling into black ash and smoke. Ginny seemed like she wanted to melt into the sofa, and Hermione, who had been sitting near her, looked at Ginny.

"You deserve that, you know." She pointed out, and before Ginny could argue, got up and walked over to Harry and the twins.

"Heya, Harry." She said, sitting down.

"So, Hermione, you were arguing with Ginny when the Howler arrived?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow. Hermione nodded sharply, and Fred smirked. "Alright."

For once, George seemed to be on a different page than his twin. The two has a very fast hushed discussion, and Harry made something out about her, but couldn't make anything else out.

"Anyway, so, how's class coming along?" Hermione said, a blush creeping into her face, trying to distract herself. "Do you need help?" She asked, and Harry nodded.

The two left for the girls' dormitory, and the twins left for their own.

* * *

It had been a few weeks of this pattern on repeat, and one morning in mid-March, Harry was called to a meeting with the champions at the Quidditch field.

Harry walked there, and saw what appears to be a bushy amount of grass... no, hedges.

"Hello there, Harry!" came the friendly voice of Ludo Bagman. "Give them a month and Hagrid’ll have them twenty feet high. Don’t worry," he bragged, before stopping, noticing the unhappy look on Harry and Cedric's faces, "you’ll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we’re making here?"

"It iz a maze, iz it not?" Fleur asked, seeming almost offended at the question.

"Ms. Delacour seemed to have nailed it!" Bagman said proudly. "Indeed, it's a maze. It's simple, too, you just need to get to the middle of the maze."

All four champions waited for the but that was clearly in that sentence.

"But, the catch being, there will be obstacles. I'm having all the teachers from all the school contribute to some degree, as well as some members of the Ministry. To make things exciting. Should be fun, eh?"

Harry disagreed, as that didn't seem like fun at all, but she held her tongue, waiting for Bagman to dismiss them.

Krum tapped Harry on her shoulder, waiting for the rest to leave, walking her the trees. Krum had simply wanted to talk with Harry, wish her luck - he had wished Fleur on the way there, and Cedric after he arrived; as much as Karkaroff wanted Harry to lose, Krum was telling her that if she could win, she had earned it.

He was, until they were cut off by the ravings of a complete madman.

Mr. Crouch was the madman. He looked sick, like he had been injured badly, and had been running through the wild for weeks. His robes were torn and bloodied, his usually professional hair all over the place and slimy, and somehow, his behavior was worse.

"Aah, Weatherby," Mr. Crouch said, seemingly mistaking an oak tree for Percy Weasley - although Percy's sense of humor was akin to an oak tree, that was where similarities ended. "Do, uh, do me a favor, and write to Fudge, confirm the numb- number... It's numb." He looked around, giving a faint wave to Harry, before turning back to 'Weatherby'. "Yes, I mean, of course I'm... I'm fine I think. H-here, let me... let me write you, uh, a..." He blinked, before looking back at Harry.

With zero time to consider, he jumped at her.

"Who are you, L-L-Lily Potter died," He said, eyes widened, seeing Harry, and Harry noticed he didn't have a wand - or at least, it wasn't available for Crouch when he reached for it. "And y-you, you're... Durmstrang, c-correct?" He got up, dusting of his robes (as though that fixed things), and his voice wavered, as though he wasn't put together. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Lily, Mr. Durmstrang, I... Do you know Albus? Albus Dumblydor-Dubmledore." He twisted his words on the name. "I almost have it..." He said, his eyes widened. He seemed to be erratic, his mood shifting like a broken pendulum. "Dumbeldor, Dumbledore." He finally said, pride on his face that gave way to horror. "P-please get him. Please get Dub-Abus, Albus."

Krum and Harry looked at each other.

"Should I get him? I, um, I know the school better maybe." Harry offered, and Krum nodded. "We both go?" At this, Crouch snapped from a distorted reverie about cauldron-thickness and seemed to start begging Harry and Krum not to leave him alone.

"Mr. C-Crouch, what do we tell Dumbledore?"

"It's my fault, I made a mistake, oh god, the Dementors and my son and Azkaban and..." He looked at the ground, flailing back. He seemed to slipping between lucid and deranged.

"Mr. Crouch, where were you?"

"Little Hanging, Little Hang, Hanging, Hangnail... Hangfire..." Crouch started, rambling off a ton of words that started with Hang.

"Mr. Crouch, why so much urgen-"

" _The Dark Lord is coming back._ " Said the judge, and he had snapped out of his broken state for that one sentence, saying it with so much conviction and certainty, Harry knew he might not have been really mad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the people who are against Harry's transition are against the common belief transphobes like ~~Rowl~~ Rita publish, to sway people. It's a herd idea, and if everyone thinks trans people are creeps, that's where a hate comes from. And there are those who are just terrible people, who understand fully what they're talking about, and why the words hurt. Malfoy is the second of these two.
> 
> As for the Howler, Ginny needs to learn her lesson. I think Molly would be supportive, just woefully bad at the pronouns and stuff. A for effort, F- for execution.
> 
> As for Crouch, I... I picture him looking like J. Jonah Jameson? J.K. Simmons, I guess, I mean. So if you want the perfect idea, picture JJJ losing his marbles, and maybe demanding pictures of Spiderman :)
> 
> As for Crouch (again), poor guy. I based his ramblings off of my various typos in this story ALONE, complete with my bad habit of having too many, uh... Like, these things-
> 
> Next chapter, help arrives. ~~Late.~~


	10. Tragedy Comes In Threes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Third Task, three ingredients, and a third attempt at revival.

The third task was here.

To backtrack a little, Mr. Crouch was there when she returned. He was ranting and raving, going on to Krum as though the Quidditch player was singlehandedly responsible for cauldron-thickness problems, but he was there. Dumbledore had tried to bring Crouch to the castle to ask questions, but Crouch didn't seem to be at all stable, ramblings on every topic _except_ the one he came for. Dumbledore assured he'd help Crouch.

As for Harry herself, she had been practicing in most of her free time, defensive spells to help in the final Task.

And now it was here. Harry - and the other three champions, she assumed - had been sent to the field for the task to begin, where Bagman waited.

"Ooh, Harry, pleasure to see you! You've got visitors." He said merrily, before resuming his own work as the Task was close to starting. Harry was surprised to see who those visitors were.

It was the Weasleys. It was a pleasure to see them again, tour them through the schools, and Molly pulled Harry aside briefing, apologizing for Ginny's behavior. Harry, thankful, waved it off, since there wasn't long to show what had changed, but Molly promised to return to it.

It wasn't long before Dumbledore came with an interruption.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes’ time," Dumbledore said loudly to the Great Hall, "I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

The Quidditch field was a complete maze. Almost ten feet tall, with thick hedges, and Harry knew how big the field was firsthand. The stands were filling, the teachers were given a safety briefing about red sparks, and time quickly passed before Bagman cast his Sonorus spell, and started to grab the guest's attentions.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Triwizard Tournament's third and final Task is about to begin!" He said, and the audience cheered. "In first place, we have Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter. In second, Viktor Krum. And in third, Fleur Delacour!"

Harry broke into the maze with Cedric on the go, and one sphinx's riddle, a Crucio, and a fight against a spider later, she stood with Cedric, about to grab the Cup.

"You grab it, you wanted to be champion."

"Yeah, but you didn't and you got here."

The two looked at each other.

"Together?"

"Together."

The second they touched, reality warped, and they were pulled through a hole in space.

* * *

Harry hit the ground hard, and she could hear the sound of her glasses folding in on themselves. A quick glance to Cedric confirmed he was better only by virtue of not having glasses to break.

Getting up, Harry looked around, seeing that she and Cedric appeared to be in some sort of demolished cemetery.

"D-do you think this is part of the Task?" Cedric asked, worry creeping into his voice. Harry shook her head.

"Wands out?" She suggested, and Cedric pulled his out. The two started walking, seeing graves and headstones and there was two people, one robed, one facing awa-

Suddenly, Harry's scar felt like it was going to kill her. Recoiling in pain, she heard someone's voice haunting through the cemetery.

"Kill the spare." The voice said, and it seemed to echo. The robed figure pulled out a wand, and said a spell.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A burst of green light shot across the area, striking Cedric in the chest. Harry was startled, rushing to Cedric to see his eyes, unblinking...

He was dead. Harry felt her breath catch, locking up, and didn't even notice the robed figure until he magically wrapped Harry in tight ropes.

She turned her head to see him, and gasped when recognizing him... Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail.

Wormtail was bothering with the ropes, tightening them roughly. Once he was certain Harry wasn't moving, he backed her up, putting her against one of the biggest tombstones. He pulled a black cloth from his pocket, and shoved it into Harry's mouth, before hurrying away. Harry could see Wormtail a-working, lighting a fire under a pot, for the figure facing away. The second Harry saw it again, pain seared through her forehead. She knew what the figure was, and she suddenly started feeling her heart rate rise.

Noises filled the area, and Pettigrew picked up the figure and gently lowered it into the pot.

"Hurry." rasped the voice in the pot.

"It's ready, M-Master." Said Pettigrew, and he turned to face harry.

 _Let it drown,_ Harry thought, her scar burning, _please, let it drown..._

“Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!” Wormtail said, holding his hand out. From the ground, akin to some superhero, a bone shot from the grave Harry was near, dodging her narrowly, into Wormtail's hand. She watched as it started glowing a sickly blue, before it crumbled into dust into the pot, tainting the reflective water a blindingly bright blue.

"Blood of the enemy," He continued, walking up to Harry, pulling out a knife and cut Harry's shoulder awkwardly, blood seeping from the wound. He brought the dripping switchblade above the pot, and as soon as a single drop of her blood fell into the pot, it rattled, the color shifting from a blue to a green.

"And f-finally..." Wormtail choked up, holding the blade out. Harry had only now realized that the blade was a near perfect match of Sirius' pocketknife that he had given her, but instead of a pocketknife with accessories, Wormtail had a full-on dagger, complete with the same runes along the side and stylized blade. "F-Flesh of the servant... W-willingly given..." The look on Pettigrew's face showed it wasn't willingly given in almost anyway that counted, fear rattling his voice. "You will revive your master." He said in one breath, and he dragged the blade down on his hand - the one missing a finger already - , and Harry winced as the Animagus screamed, slumping to the ground.

The cauldron went black for a second, before turning a blinding white. Harry's eyes, squinted, could see a thick smoke rising from the pot, and it rattled and shook. Water splashed out of it, and wherever it touched the ground, wherever it touched the fabric of Wormtail's robes, turned blackened and crumbled into dust. It swirled, it glowed, and soon, Harry saw the cauldron itself melting down, the liquid light seemingly absorbing it.

 _Let it have drowned,_ Harry thought, let it have gone wrong...

Suddenly, in one loud explosion, the cauldron ripped itself part, pieces flying every which way - including one that clearly pierced Wormtail's shoulder, and one that narrowly dodged Harry's torso. The robes on the side of the platform swirled, as though sentient, and soared into a pillar of quickly fading (no, not fading, darkening) light.

As the black beam subsided, Harry was met face to face with a tall man, his face flat and warped, scarlet eyes that seemed to swirl with a seeming intent.

And she knew that Quirrel's sacrifice had paid off for one person.

That Ginny's possession was a stepping stone that could've been avoided.

That Wormtail was free for one reason.

And that was the biggest tragedy of them all.

Because Lord Voldemort had risen at last.


	11. The Whole Group Is Back Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions of the death eaters and those they killed.

Voldemort's eyes seemed to soak up the area. For a man who had been dead for thirteen years, he seemed far too alive.

"Harry Potter." He said, smirking. "And Pettigrew." He added as an afterthought. "Give me your arm." Pettigrew started muttering his gratitude, sticking up the stump. The Dark Lord glared. "The other arm. With the Mark."

"P-Please, m-my lord... I-it hur-" He stopped his arguing under his master's gaze, and pulled up his other arm, waiting as Voldemortr stroked Wormtail's arm, pressing the Mark with much more force than was needed, smirking.

"Let's see who is brave enough to come back." He said. "Or foolish enough not to."

"You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father," The Dark Lord hissed softly. “A disgrace and a fool... very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death...” He said, smirking, walking up. He walked up, smirking.

"And he left my mother, after finding out she was a witch. Which even though she may have been... disappointing to the wizarding world, she was a witch nonetheless. He wasn't a fan of magic." He seemingly cast a blast of light, illuminating the graves at impossible angles. "And now, all these years later, I'm ready to erase the final traces of his so-called son, and his own legacy, of the name Tom Riddle."

He gave a cold laugh. "Look at me, with the family stories." He looked around, head tilting. "We await a new family, don't we, Potter?"

Dark waves in reality, sentient clouds, were swirling the graveyard, solidifying into people. Wizards Apparating, or travelling by smoke cloud. As they arrived, the Death Eaters seemed to bow to Voldemort, kissing his robes and murmuring promises of redemption.

"My fellow Death Eaters." He said, smirking. "Thirteen years since I left, and you answer the Call as though it were yesterday." He smirked, before glaring. "But you didn't."

"There is guilt in the air, of those who left me behind, believing me dead? Doubting my powers?"

One Death Eater threw himself down, to Voldemort, who glared at me. "P-please, M-master, forgive us a-"

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort hissed, green light firing out, murdering the Death Eater.

"You have all defied the Mark!" He screamed, his voice echoing at equally impossible angles as the light. "For thirteen years, you've bore my trademark, hiding in the shadows and safety, while I alone have achieved my goal." He paused.

"Not alone. You see, Pettigrew, the lowest and most worthless of you all," (Peter seemed to ignore that statement, too focused on his bleeding hand.) "Has served me in ways none of you have. Thirteen years in hiding, with Muggle sympathizers no less; thirteen years of biding his time, of waiting for my return." He looked at the bleeding servant. "He has done well. Wormtail, your arm. You will be repaid in full and then some."

Wormtail staggeredly brought his arm forward, and the screaming stopped as the air warped and twisting, a golden liquid flowing from the wand. It swirled on Pettigrew's wrist, and without warning, started mixing with flesh. The servant screamed loudly, louder than he had all night, and some Death Eaters stepped back - either for volume or fear, Harry wasn't sure.

After almost three minutes, he abruptly stopped. He had a golden hand that gleamed brightly, and he flexed it, as though amazed at the existence of a hand: which for him, was likely very amazing.

"I reward those who do well." He said simply.

He started walking the circle, as Wormtail rushed to his spot in the wheel of Death Eaters.

"Lucius, a traitor but a valuable one. You fled from the Mark once. Do not do it again." He said, and he slowly walked the wheel, commenting on the spots that either had souls or not. "The Lestranges, who have honored me equally by serving time in Azkaban in my name. They will be honored beyond wildest imagination." He said, and ne commented some more on the souls. At the end, he smirked.

"And Seven of you, who have not returned." He said, looking around. "Three dead in my honor. Two who ran away, and will be sentenced beyond comprehension. One who has been faithful in his own way, and another who allowed this meeting to take place."

"M-my lord," Spoke up Lucius, and Voldemort wheeled around. "H-how are you here?"

"Good question, Lucius." Voldemort said. "It is said that Harry Potter was my downfall. That he was a hero, and untouchable. When the Killing Curse reflected on me - ancient magic his mother accidentally invoked, I presume, he became a mirror I couldn't touch or fight. I died, tormenting agony and misery haunting my... soul, if it even counted still, for almost a decade. It was worse than anyone in this room has ever felt." He walked up to Harry, smirking cruelly. "But that all has changed." He gripped Harry's face tightly, tilting it up. "You look like your mother." He said, and there was genuine impression of respect in that sentence. "Reducto." He said, tapping the ropes, and they exploded at the center, heat searing Harry's chest.

"Get up, Potter. Die with dignity like your parents." He backed up, smirking. "Accio wand." He grabbed, and tossed it to Harry.

"For thirteen years, the boy has been untouchable, he has been immortal in my conquest, and now, it ends. In a way, we were equals, Potter." He said, and he looked at Harry. "We were. And now, you will die in glory." He pulled out his own wand. "And Potter?" He said, pausing to give Harry time to answer. "I hope death is as painless for you as it was for me."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort said, in almost a scream, and Harry reflexively said the first spell that came to her mind.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

The two beams collided midair, the scarlet and the green mixing. As they connected, the air seemed to almost hiss, as though on fire, and Voldemort grimaced. The beam persisted, sparks flying, shots of golden magic zipping each way - a shot hit a Death Eater, throwing them halfway across the graveyard.

Harry's wand felt like it was going to melt in her hand, and Voldemort's rattling grip showed he was no better off.

The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort's wands splintered, refracting into a thousand more beams arcing high over them, forming a type of golden cage.

"DO NOTHING!" Voldemort screamed to the Death Eaters, and Harry only realized now how warped sound was. Glancing around, the gravestones were crumbling, the grass was shifting, and overall, reality was failing around them.

From the beam, out sparked various lights - the Impediment charm Harry used to shoot back, striking another Death Eater; but for Voldemort's spells, ghostly images seemed to rise from where the beams met.

Cedric Diggory came out first, glancing around. Next were two people - the person from Harry's dream at years start, and someone he had never met before. Then... her voice choked up.

Two ethereal spirits came out, that looked like Harry did and had - Lily and James.

She saw the spirits, and they spoke to her. They promised to keep her safe, give her a chance to run. And then, she yanked her arm up, the golden strand of magic giving way in a blinding light, and she ran.

She heard Voldemort behind her giving instructions to stun her, but she ran afaster, and without thinking, grabbed Cedric's limp arm right as she was about to grab a portkey.

She heard the howling of the Dark Lord until she had returned to the maze at Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully no author's notes hit a thing home last chapter.
> 
> So, I'm thinking of doing bidaily uploads, to lower the work load on me. My recent chapters have been lesser quality, and with me finally leaving the mess that is Goblet of Fire ~~Goblet is my least favorite~~ , I want to make OotP, HBP, and DH really count. So is every other day uploads good for y'all?


	12. There Is An Imposter Among Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moody's more Mad than Eye, and three friends have been keeping secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does that reference date this chapter badly?
> 
> Also, content warning for Draco throwing a slur.

The second time Harry hit her face hard against dirt, her glasses broke. She just stayed there, in the center of the Maze, before muttering an incantation and firing the red sparks sky high. In due time, staff were there.

Everything from that was a flurry, a singular blur. Harry had witnessed death before. Her parents as a notable time, but... she didn't remember any of them. Her parents were when she was too young, Quirrell died after she passed out, and Tom Riddle's ghostly afterimage didn't really die so much as dissolve. Cedric was... Harry could've gone her life without witnessing that.

Mad-Eye Moody had arrived, and led Harry to his office. She had started explaining what happened when Moody explained the key thing she had missed.

That apparently he was the Death Eater that let the revival of Voldemort take place. After a speech that Harry silently thought was worthy of a James Bond villian, about deserted fathers and the Dark Order, it wasn't long before a teacher broke in, stunned Moody, and sent Harry off to the infirmary to try (and try she would) to get some shut-eye.

* * *

The next few days were a blur, at most. Cedric's death had really thrown her balance out, and now everything felt too short and too long. Dumbledore's questions and answers about Voldemort's return (and something called Priori Incantatem, which was how those spirits appeared), and the accusations that the Dark Lord's return was that - an accusation. How the Diggory's let Harry keep the prize money, unable to bear taking it for themselves.

An unexpected thing is right as Harry was going to leave the infirmary, the potion started to wear off. It was painful, and not fast like the initial taking of it. Harry spent the better part of the afternoon feeling like her whole body was on fire, before she felt like she was in her own body again. 

She went back to the Gryffindor Tower that night, and apparently most of the people there seemed surprised to see the "Boy"-Who-Lived. She focused mostly on Ron and Hermione, catching them up to speed. Ron had even asked if Harry could come over, although Dumbledore had caught wind it seemed, and insisted that Harry spend a little bit of time with the Dursleys first. Harry's apparent fear at this seemed to perplex Hermione, but it was shrugged off.

As the Great Hall filled, and the final feast went under way, a eulogy to Cedric and the school terrified at Voldemort's return, Harry sat there, wanting to vanish. The dysphoria she had never noticed was worse now that she knew why those feelings persisted, but she knew what had to be done. The Dursleys would never have approved.

And then... Well, it was time to go.

* * *

"You know," Ron quipped, "Wasn't it pouring rain when we were going to Hogwarts, too?" He said, gesturing out the window, where the weather was no better now than before. Harry shrugged.

"Rainy season." She said, quiet. She had opted to be a bystander, agreeing with Ron and Hermione's discussions.

"Something that's been bugging me," Hermione said, and she pulled out the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet. "Is that the news isn't reporting on any of this. Not even Cedric's obituary." She said, frowning. "I think the Minister wants to cover this up."

"How do you think he's getting Rita to be quiet?" Ron asked.

Hermione looked up with a grin that somewhat scared the other two. "About her." She dug around through her bag, before pulling out a glass jar, that appeared to have a big beetle in it. "She's been bugging the school."

"How does that help her?" Harry asked, looking at it.

"It's not helping her. It is her." Hermione said. "Guess who has been seeking around as an unregistered Animagus." She chuckled, flicking the edge of the thing. The beetle - Rita, Harry supposed - fell off the stick it was on and seemed to be mad (it's hard to tell with beetles).

"I've told her I'll let her out in London, but if she doesn't keep her quill to herself, the whole world would know about her being an unregistered Animagus." Hermione pointed out, and while Ron seemed semi-shocked, she explained to Harry, "Which does come with a five-year penalty in Azkaban, believe it or not."

A slow clap could be heard outside the compartment, and the door opened to reveal a pompous Slytherin.

"Bravo, Granger." Draco said, looking at the three. "You caught a reporter and made Potter the favorite again. Boo hoo."

"Just go Draco." Harry said, temper already rising.

"I mean, you picked the losing side. I told you, very first day, don't engage with the riffraff. And now, it's Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first!" Draco said, before smirking. "Well, third. You and your fellow trannies are second, Diggory was the fir-"

A box of fireworks exploded it felt like. Fred and George absolved it, by walking in. "Did we just hit them with five curses?" A slow nod from everyone made the group break out laughing.

"Well, whatever. No one liked them anyway." George said, dragging Malfoy's legs out of the compartment before closing it.

"So, testing went well?" Fred grinned, and as George offered a game of Exploding Snap, where everyone started playing, Harry explained the potion to Fred and George. Something was nagging her though.

"So, who were you blackmailing?" She asked suddenly.

Fred and George exchanged glances.

"Ludo Bagman. It wasn't blackmail, either." George said, a dark look on his face.

"It was getting the bet money." Fred clarified.

"I thought he paid you?" Hermione asked, confused.

"In leprechaun's gold, yeah." The twins said in unison, before explaining how he scammed them, and how he was neck deep in debts, hence why he had helped Harry. They explained what they tried, but settled that, nope, the money was lost. The gender potion had been the joke shop's first and final product.

Harry got an idea. "I've got something."

She went through her bags, before pulling out a big sack of Galleons.

"Take this." She said, forcing it into the twins' hands.

"W-what?" Fred stammered, surprised.

"Take it. It's yours." She said, ignoring Ron's exclaim of surprise.

"You. Are mental." George clarified.

"I don't need it. I'll toss it, or something. So take it." Harry demanded. "And besides, I don't need money, but laughs? Everyone could use some of those in this next little bit."

"T-..." The twins were stammering over thank-yous and their gratitudes, when Harry added.

"Besides, if you really want, assume I overpaid for the potion. It's been a great year, thanks to you two."

At this, Fred, George, and Hermione all looked guilty.

"Err, uh, you see..."

"About that..."

"Harry, I... They told..."

The girl who lived raised her eyebrows, looking at the three.

"We already knew." The twins said in sync.

"The Marauder's Map. I assume you've considered the name Holly before?" Fred said.

"As well as Autumn?" George added.

Harry's jaw dropped a little. Autumn had a been more silent thought from her third year, and one in retrospect should've given Harry a sign sooner.

"The Map updated to match the name you wanted at the time. We noticed it in the second year." George explained.

"And we talked to Hermione in the third." Fred pointed out. "Right after we gave you it, since Hermione knew the map existed."

"I knew what it was they were talking about..." Hermione defended. "And so, we kind of..."

"Formulated a plan." The twins finished in unison.

Harry wanted to be mad. She did. A small part of her was.

"That's why you suggested the potion." Harry said. It wasn't a question. The twins nodded anyway. "And this is why you've been so awkward about it?" Harry asked Hermione, who blushed and nodded.

"To be fair," Fred said.

"We didn't know for certain." George said.

"That was your job to figure out, maybe the map just couldn't tell."

Harry surprised the three of them with a hug.

"Err, I..." Fred and George seemed flustered, while Hermione blushed brightly. Harry let go.

"Thank you." She said. "You probably should've, you know, talked to me," She said, pausing to let the guilt sink in just a _little_. "But thank you. It's... It's one of the best things to ever happen to me."

"Second only to Hogwarts itself?" Fred offered, and he smirked. "No problem."

"If you want, we can call you Autumn?" Hermione said. And Harry paused. She liked that. She nodded, and the trip continued as fun for a bit.

Arriving at King's Cross, she found Uncle Vernon - who seemed peeved at meeting his niece again - and they started on their way off, and she couldn't help but pause.

Autumn Lily Potter was a happy girl, she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE NAME HAS BEEN DECREED, not that it'll get used much for Goblet haha!
> 
> As for the twins and Hermione, that's the big secret. They knew from day zero- hell, day negative one hundred or whatever.
> 
> Glad to be done with Goblet. I hated Goblet. Goblet's a goblin - that's to say, something I don't like. I play Magic: the Gathering, and holy shit are goblins my least favorite. They are impulsive and stupid, which makes the Goblet-Goblin comparison more fitting.
> 
> Can't wait for Order of the Phoenix. I have big things planned for it.
> 
> Thoughts on the name Autumn?


	13. Breaking Law And The Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To any readers of the original There Is An Imposter Among Us, I've changed Holly's name from Autumn.

In the sweltering summer heat, a sleepy silence fell over Privet Drive. Sparkling vehicles standing dusty in driveways, no more animate than the flowers in the flowerbeds of the houses along the quaint little street. The wind was calm, and in this still wind and stiller street, there sat a teenage girl on a park bench.

That teenage girl was Autumn Potter.

She generally spent her time instead in her bedroom at 4 Privet Drive if she could help it, but she needed to get outside every once in a while. This was one such time. She was distancing herself from the Dursleys, choosing to just watch the sunset at a park on Magnolia Road, adjacent to Privet Drive.

As glad as she was to have some contact with the wizarding world, she was still being kept quiet in the dark about… well, everything. Sirius chose to give vague advice instead of news, Remus just point blank said he couldn’t talk about it. Ron and Hermione sent letters saying nothing of value, although they were nice to have at all.

She catches a glance of someone, a group of people - maybe three or four of them? - walking around being boisterous and loud. Autumn knew who those people were. The figure in front was unmistakably his cousin, Dudley Dursley, wending his way home, accompanied by his faithful gang.

Dudley was as wide as ever, but a year and some change worth of dieting and the discovery of a new talent had wrought quite a change in his physique. Uncle Vernon delightedly bragged to just about everyone on the face of the earth that Dudley had recently won the title of boxing champion of the school board. Autumn didn’t exactly fear Dudley anymore (quite the opposite, in fact), but she still didn’t think that Dudley learning to punch harder and more accurately was cause for celebration.

Autumn decided she might as well go home now since Vernon got obnoxious when she was late, and that generally meant food was probably gonna be barred from her for the night, which wasn’t something she looked forward to.

Autumn stepped into the shadow of a large lilac tree and waited. She figured she could tease Dudley a bit before getting home. She knew it was kind of petty, but she didn’t care much. Autumn waited for the gang to go on their merry way, before turning around and walking near Dudley, who was strolling along at his ease, humming tunelessly. Autumn decided to take some pleasure in it, teasing Dudley about his nicknames, when suddenly Dudley shivered and stopped.

The whole sky seemed to have just been turned off. The moon, the stars, the street lights, even the little light of Dudley’s glow-in-the-dark watch, all of it gone.

Autumn paused, surprised at her accidental magic - before remembering that while she could do a decent amount of things, turning off the stars and all light in the world was not in a wizard’s arsenal.

She turned her head, trying to see something aside from the darkness of the void. Dudley’s terrified voice broke in Autumn’s ear.

“W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!”

“I’m not doing anything! Shut up and don’t move!”

“I c-can’t see! I’ve g-gone blind! I —”

“I said shut up!” Autumn stood still as a sculpture, turning her currently-useless eyes in just about every direction.

Then it clicked.

It was impossible... They couldn’t be here… Not in Little Whinging... 

Dammit, she thought, it’s Dementors, isn’t it?

“I’ll t-tell Dad!” Dudley whimpered. “W-where are you? What are you d-do — ?”

“Will you shut up?” Autumn hissed, “I’m trying to lis—” But she fell silent. She had heard it. The sound of torn fabric scraping against concrete, the sound of some sort of shallow breathing turned hyperventilating. The sound of whispers of your fears.

It was Dementors.

She saw Dudley bolt, trying to run, but running directly to the source of that shadowy haunting sound.

“Dudley, stop!” She glanced at her wand. She catches a glance of it, and for a minute she can feel herself panicking a little. “E-ex…”

She felt hopeless, a little. She could see the Dementor, hovering over her cousin. Looming closer, and she held her wand out.

“Expecto patronum!” She called, and she watched as a spark of silver shot out, twisting in the air, weaving into the shape of a stag, pushing the Dementors back. The Dementors hovering near Dudley, as they seemed to back off in fear of the patronus. The Dementors seemed to glare somehow, but they crumbled, seemingly vanishing and going elsewhere - likely back to Azkaban.

Reality seemed to turn the lights on again. Autumn could see the trees, the ground, Dudley on the ground.

Autumn's eyes fell onto Mrs. Figg, who was panting and rushing over. Autumn moved to hide her wand-

"Don't put it away, Potter," She said in a near-hiss, "What if the Dementors come back? Ooh, I'm going to kill Mundungus!"

Autumn was annoyed. Apparently, she was being spied on by various witches and wizards; and had been watched to avoid needing accidental magic. She had been expelled, un-expelled, and sent two more owls and a Howler in the span of ten minutes, and she was all around fed up. Sending letters to her friends, she decided to wait a reply.

Three days went by however, with zero reply, further adding to the annoyance. It was only on the fourth night, after the Dursleys left, when Autumn had two thoughts when she heard clatters downstairs.

The first was panic, because of burglars.

The second was confusion, because even novice burglars would try to be quiet. Heading downstairs, she grabbed her wand and raised i-

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone’s eye out," said a dark voice. Autumn screamed, before realizing who it was. Mad-Eye Moody.

"Professor Moody?" she said hesitantly.

"I don’t know so much about 'Professor,'" growled the voice, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly." Autumn slowly came into better lighting, and the Auror chuckled. She saw a second person.

"It’s all right, H- It's alright. We’ve come to take you away." Said another voice.

"P-Professor Lupin?" Autumn stammered, surprised to hear the voice of her (former)-DADA professor.

"Can somebody tell me why the only light is from outside the window?" Came a voice Autumn didn't recognize, "Lumos."

A wand brightened the hallway with light, and Autumn blinked away the spots that formed from the sudden change. There was a group of people at the bottom of the staircase.

Her third-year professor, Remus Lupin stood closest to her, although he had seen healthier and better days. His hair had gone more gray, and his robes were patchy.

"Ooh,-" The witch holding her wand said. She seemed to be the youngest with black hair, although that seemed to be the only quality Autumn could quite make out. Her face seemed to be changing in the light. "She looks different than I expected."

"Are we positive this is Harry?" Moody pointed out, and Autumn was not surprised. "Lot of good it'd do if we brought a Death Eater with us. Anyone got a question only Potter could answer?"

Lupin stepped forward, looking at Autumn. "What's your Patronus?"

"A stag, even I know that." Moody said. "Anyo-"

"What's your name?" The black -no, wait, blonde(?) haired witch said, and Autumn blushed.

"Autumn. Autumn Lily."

"It's her." She said, and Lupin's eyes widened, while Moody nodded.

"That makes zero sen-" Lupin started to argue.

"Trust me." The witch (nope, it was definitely red now - Autumn rubbed her eyes to try and get rid of the dizziness) said, looking at Autumn.

"But his name isn'-" Lupin started, looking very distrusting.

"Remus." The witch said, glaring.

Autumn started following them, nd looked at them.

"You're really glad the Dursleys weren't here."

"I wouldn't call them lucky," said the (now-)violet haired witch. "It was me that lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they’d been short-listed for the All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They’re heading off to the prize-giving right now..." She smirked. "Well, they think they are."

Autumn stifled a giggle, picturing the look on Uncle Vernon's face when he realized there was no All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition.

"So, we'll be leaving?" Autumn asked hopefully. "Soon?"

"As soon as we get the all-clear, Harry." Lupin said absentmindedly, looking outside the window for something.

"Where are we going? The Burrow?"

"No, it's too risky." Lupin said. "Too risky. We’ve set up headquarters somewhere undetectable. It’s taken a while..." Lupin panned his hands over to Moody. "So, uh, this is Alastor Moody. The, er, the real one." He introduced, and Autumn shook the feeling of deja vu - it was weird being introduced to someone you had supposedly known for almost a year. "This is Nymp-"

"Tonks. Call me Tonks." Said the witch, sticking a hand out for Autumn to shake.

"This is Nymphadora, who prefers to be called by her last name, Tonks." Remus finished, unsurprised at the interruption.

"You would too," Tonks pointed out, "If you had a name like Nymphadora."

"We’re just waiting for the signal to tell us it’s safe to set off," Lupin said, looking out the window. "I give it fifteen minutes before we're off."

"Very clean, aren’t they, these Muggles?" Tonks commented, who was looking around the kitchen. "My dad’s muggleborn and he’s a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just like with wizards?"

Autumn nodded, looking around. "So, uh, what's going on, I've heard nothing. What's going on with Vol-"

"Shut up!" growled Alastor Moody, his magical eye half-turning to her, before it jammed up. "Not here. It's too risky..." He growled, this time about the eye which was sticking up. "Bugger, hey, Potter? Get me a glass of water," He said, muttering something about Crouch Jr. breaking it. With a glass of water, he started cleaning the eye in it.

"So, uh," Autumn started, "How are we getting wherever it is?"

"Brooms. Only way." Lupin said. "Portkey's are expensive and difficult to set up, Floo network is being watched, and you can't Apparate." He looked at Autumn, who had a look of panic. "Don't worry, Harry, we brought a broom for you to use. You should probably go pack, though."

"I can go help Autumn." Tonks said, getting up. "I need to do something."

The two walked up the stairs, and Autumn was half-listening as Tonks commented how the house was too clean, and Tonks even helped pack things using some sort of spell.

"Hey, Autumn? Don't mind Remus," Tonks said suddenly. "He'll come around." Autumn looked at her, confused.

"Remus, he's... old-fashioned. At best. He'll probably be a struggle." Tonks said, chuckling. "But he'll come around. I know what it's like." Autumn cocked her head to the side. "Do you know what genderfluid is?" Autumn's eyes widened with understanding, and she kind of smiled and nodded.

"Y-you mean," She stammered, but Tonks smiled.

"Yeah. I'm like you." She sat down on the bed next to Autumn.

"It'll be rough. You used the potion last year?" Tonks asked, and after Autumn nodded, continued. "It's dangerous to take for long periods of time, so you'll need a different approach, but I'm here for ya." She said, and she ruffled Autumn's hair, and Tonks looked at her.

"You know, I expected the Girl Who Lived to be different." She said, after a pause. "It's good. I expected you to be all boastful, so... Stay that way. It suits you." Tonks said with a smirk. "Now come on, they're waiting."

Autumn grabbed Hedwig's cage, and started following Tonks downstairs, assured with the simple fact that she wasn't alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, sorry for the delay. I've been planning out Order of the Phoenix, and I have things planned out quite... thoroughly. The Department of Mysteries is the most clear at the moment, which is ironic given the name - I can not wait to get there.
> 
> Consider the extralong chapter to be compensation for taking forever.
> 
> Nymphadora would be a huge ally, I picture. They, above anyone else, would understand the urge of not feeling like you're in the right body. Hence, genderfluid Tonks doesn't even feel off: plus, it also gives Autumn a positive role model, and an example of what to kinda look up to: Queer future-Auror, trans (or genderfluid, same vein though), half-blood to two Wizarding parents, and the important part: both of them grew up as an odd one in the bunch. As such, Tonks will serve as a sort of 'mentor' to Autumn. (I also picture Metamorphmagi having issues keeping a single appearance in certain emotional states - meeting the Girl Who Lived would count.)
> 
>  **As for Remus,** he isn't an asshole. He isn't. However, he is fully aware of what discrimination is like for something that puts you outside the mold, since he gets judged for being a werewolf, despite it not defining him. In his eyes, Autumn is doing the same thing here. The catch being Remus is mad, because he doesn't understand why Autumn would willingly do this. In his eyes, he's taking something Autumn could've avoided and making her life more difficult, so he's a bit bitter over that.
> 
> TL;DR I was slow because I was planning out OOTP, Tonks is a huge ally, and Remus doesn't understand and that misunderstanding makes him bitter, but he won't be aggressive about it.


	14. On A More Sirius Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: non-malicious deadnaming; transphobia from Ginny, ignorance from Remus

"Excellent," came the approving sound of Remus Lupin. "We'll probably be going in about a minute." He looked at Autumn. "Don't worry, Harry, I left a note for your aunt and uncle saying not to worry-"

"They won't." Autumn interjected.

"-and that you'll be okay." Remus finished.

"Oh, that'll just make them depressed." Autumn interjected a second time, and Remus gave her a look.

"Before we go," Alastor grumbled, "let me disillusion you first."

"Dis-a-what?" Autumn asked, looking at the mad-eye. He looked back, raising his wand.

"Disillusionment Charm." He explained. "It'll make you invisible. Stand still."

Without much other warning (or more importantly to Autumn, room to argue), Alastor waved his wand, and Autumn felt a cold sensation creep down her. She looked at her hands, and she could tell, it wasn't so much she was invisible, she just... looked like her surroundings.

"C'mon," Alastor grumbled. "We're going."

Waiting for signals, it wasn't long before Autumn and the three accompanying wizards took flight, leaving Privet Drive behind in the cloudy sky.

* * *

Two hours later, the wizards set foot on solid ground, and started looking around. Giving a small grin, Remus pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and slipped it into Autumn's hand. In Sirius' writing, she noticed, she read the words.

_The House of Black lends the Order of the Phoenix the residence of 12 Grimmauld Place._

No sooner did she read them, she saw a house expanding into existence in front of her, and she was amazed. Walking up to the door, Remus tapped his wand against it. The sound of a dozen locks whirling out of place came out from it, before it opened gently.

"Get inside, quickly, Harry." Remus whispered, "Don't go too far inside, don't touch anything."

Stepping into the house, Autumn first noticed how it was almost pitch-black inside, and the sweetish, rotting smell of damp wood filled the hallway. As Remus, Tonks, and finally Moody came in, closing the door and sealing the pitch-blackness, and Autumn was nervous. As Moody dissolved the disillusionment charm, another spell hissed to life, feeling the decaying hallway with light. Cobwebs, portraits, and overall disarray and disgust filled the room.

Hurried footsteps filled the hall, and Autumn caught sight of Molly Weasley as she walked into the hallway. She was beaming, but Harry noticed she seemed more unhealthy than usual.

"Oooh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" She muttered, pulling Autumn into a hug. "You need feeding up, but you'll have to wait for dinner, come on..." She turned to the adult wizards. "He's arrived, the meeting's starting."

They made noises of interest, and left. Autumn moved to go after Remus, but Molly stopped her. "Sorry, Harry, the meetings for the adults." She said, turning her around. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until after the meeting. And keep your voice down."

"What, why-?"

"I don't want to wake anything up."

"Wh-"

"I'll explain later, I've got to hurry, I’m supposed to be at the meeting — I’ll just show you where you’re sleeping." She said, and guiding her silently to a room, "Ron and Hermione will explain everything, dear, I’ve really got to dash, and... there, you’re the door on the right. I’ll call you when it’s over." She said, letting Autumn head to the room before departing.

Entering the room, then there was a loud twittering noise, followed by an even louder shriek, and her vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair — Hermione had thrown herself onto Autumn, while Pigwidgeon soared around their head.

"AUTUMN! Ron, she’s here, Autumn's here! We didn’t hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless, but we couldn’t tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn’t, oh, we’ve got so much to tell you, and you’ve got to tell us- oh, wait the dementors! When we heard, and... and that Ministry hearing, it’s just outrageous, I’ve looked it all up, they can’t expel you, they just can’t, there’s provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations-" Hermione rambled.

"Let her breathe, Hermione," said Ron, walking over to the two of them. Hermione, still happy, let go of Autumn, and they started discussing things: Dumbledore had restricted them speaking for some reason

"I think he thought you were safest witht eh muggles." Ron offered, and Autumn snapped.

"Have either of you been attacked by Dementors this summer?" She asked coldly, and Ron stammered. "Have you?"

"Well, no, but that's why he had people from the Order watching you all the t-"

Auutmn glared.

"That didn't work well, did it?" She deadpanned, "Had to look after myself after all, didn’t I?"

"He was so angry," said Hermione in a calm voice. "Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."

"Well, I’m glad he left,” Autumn said coldly. "If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have done magic and Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer."

"I mean, it's not that bad there, is it?" Ron asked jovially, but Autumn seemed to lock up at those words. "H- Autumn? Is it ba-"

"I'm fine." Autumn said on reflex, and Hermione's eyes narrowed darkly.

"Autumn. Talk. Now." Hermione said.

"I'm just worried about the hearing with the Ministry," Autumn lied, "It's just a lot of stress, little things get me."

"Aah. Well, trust me, Dumbledore won't let yo-AAA!" Ron started, as two loud cracks were heard. It was the sound of Fred and George materializing, discussing things from Extendable Ears to Percy and Arthur's argument, until it was time for dinner.

Autumn was excited, but see was already dreading it suddenly.

* * *

"So, Harry, how was the summer?" Asked Molly passively, and Autumn nodded gently. It was a non-committal answer.

Around the table, there was the Weasleys (excluding Percy and Charlie, but the rest of them were there), Hermione (who seemed to be playing with her food, scared to look up), Sirius (he wasn't eating, merely looking at Autumn worriedly), Remus (who was looking at Sirius worriedly), Tonks (who was looking at Remus worriedly while eating, making her the 'winner'), and Mad-Eye (well, to call him at the table was wrong, more like observing the table from the edge of the room).

With exactly thirteen people - Autumn felt uneasy with that, remembering Trelawney's thing about the thirteenth at a table was to die or whatever, before discrediting Divination completely - the table was in a hushed chatter, likely to avoid walking up that damn portrait again.

"So, uh, can somebody tell us what's going on?" Hermione interjected loudly, much to surprise. Up until this point, Hermione had been dead quiet. "Or are we expected to just guess?"

Ron spoke up. "Yeah, I mean, I get why Autumn doesn't understand, she just got here, but we've been for a month now and we know the s-"

"Autumn?" Sirius said suddenly, although judging by where he was looking, he knew exactly who Ron was talking about. This was confirmed for Sirius when Autumn put her hand up meekly.

"Ooh, that's a lovely name!" Molly said, and while it was clear she meant it, it was also clear she wanted to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject, mum." Ron said bitterly.

Sirius gave a small thumbs-up to Autumn, while speaking. "We, uh, we're under orders from Dumbledore not to tell H-," Sirius started, before pausing and correcting himself. "Autu-"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, stop." Two voices said.

Autumn expected Ginny, she really did. Ginny had been doing this since day zero. The second voice was the surprise.

Remus Lupin.

"Remus?" Sirius asked confused.

"Ginny!" Molly snapped at her daughter.

"I just want someone to tell me what's..." Autumn started, realizing that there was now two rows over the table. "...going on." She trailed off, looking. Molly was clearly mad at Ginny, and Remus seemed to be as close to yelling at Sirius as Sirius at him. The fight was escalating, and Autumn wanted to just sink into her seat. Fred leaned over.

"We've been asking for a month now. Mum won't let anyone tell us anything, we're 'too young'," George said, the end of it in a falsetto.

"Yeah. Your best bet is Sirius, if we had to take a guess." Fred commented, "But that's still a long shot."

Out of nowhere, Remus start yelling, not at Sirius, but Ginny.

"And you have no right to get mad at him, Ginny." He snapped, and Sirius glared.

"Moony, really? You're arguing the _exact_ same thing with me _right_ _now_!" The two started bickering in a hushed echo, while Ginny seemed quite frustrated. She got up, and left the room, before Sirius got up, grabbed Remus' arm, and dragged him elsewhere.

And thus, the table consisted of ten (well, nine, Moody wasn't at the table). Autumn felt her eyes pricking, tears held back, but she tried to sound confident.

"Look, I get if you can't tell me everything. I just don't want to be out of the loop." She said, looking at the people. "But fine. I think I might just sleep, is that alright?"

"I'll talk with Ginny." Molly said apologetically.

"It's not just Ginny." Autumn said. It was everything, it was the potion was off the table, Ginny and Remus, the fact no one could tell her anything, the upcoming trial at the Ministry, hell, _Voldemort_. "I just... Can I go?"

Molly seemed on the fence, before nodding gently. Autumn got up, and started leaving up to the room.

She hadn't been lying. She was going to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the Trial!
> 
> So, I've got a set of overarching themes in this story, plot lines I'll be resolving. And many have been set in motion. I've even given them little codenames: Well, they should all be set in motion by now, except two. So this'll be fun.
> 
> Sorry for the slow updates. School, life stuff, and overall it went slower than wanted. But I won't ditch this.


	15. Objection!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, I guess. Sorry this took so long. Life came up.

The next week consisted mainly of cleaning up the grim old place of Grimmauld Place - Autumn was under the idea that name had to be intentional, it just had to be - and things seemed fine. Ginny ignored her (mostly), and everyone else was rather friendly. Fred and George had a successful mail-order business, Kreacher seemed to shut up, if only because Sirius said to, and in due time, Sirius and Autumn were chatting up a storm, when Sirius stepped one word in the wrong direction on the Saturday the day after she came to the house.

"I’d feel a lot better about the hearing if I knew I didn’t have to go back to the Dursleys," Autumn mused aloud, and Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"They must be bad if you prefer this place," said Sirius gloomily.

"Hurry up, you two, or there won’t be any food left," came the voice of Molly Weasley, and Sirius got up. He took three steps before noticing Autumn still glued to her chair.

"Autumn?" Sirius said, and the girl who lived muttered a non-answer, something that sounded a lot like an "i'm fine" to Sirius, which was obviously not right. Sirius waited for a long moment, and Autumn didn't move, staring at the floor.

"Autumn? Get up, Autumn." Autumn had zero response. Sirius's eyes narrowed. He was about to ask something else, when there was a knock at the door, and Autumn snapped out of the distant reverie she was in, getting up as though everything were fine.

"S-sorry, Sirius, I... I kinda got distracted I guess." She stammered out, before opening the door. There was Hermione.

"Mrs. Weasley told me to come get you." Hermione said. "Did you hear her?"

"Y-yeah, I just distracted." Autumn stammered nervously, before zipping past Hermione. The muggleborn looked at Sirius, who shrugged.

"What did you do, Sirius?" Hermione asked nervously, and Sirius would've been ruffled if she didn't have good reason.

"We were talking about Grimmauld Place and I made a comment about hi-her, uh, the Dursleys. You'd think I offered her Azkaban the way she-"

"Locked up?" Hermione cut the Azkaban escapee off, and Sirius paled, nodding slightly. "The day she got here, the same thing happened." Hermione explained Ron's jab at the Dursleys, and how Autumn had locked up with a simple "i'm fine" - despite that not being the question, she stressed - and they never followed up.

Sirius' eyebrows knit.

"I'll talk to her." Sirius offered.

* * *

Sirius had tried, but Autumn refused to speak, at least until the trial. She diverted the conversation everytime Sirius, Hermione, or Ron brought it up, or was saved by the bell - or at least, the bell of Molly Weasley announcing dinner.

The week had gone all over the place: Tuesday was when Ron finally snapped at Ginny over how she was treating Autumn, and the rest of the day was really quiet. Autumn had promised Hermione - and only Hermione - that she would tell her everything about the Dursleys after the trial. Why only Hermione, Autumn would've told you because she knew what a muggle-raised child should grow up like.

In due time, it was the day of the trial. Autumn woke up, and she looked around, groggy. At half-past five, it came as zero surprise to hear that Hermione was still asleep, her bushy hair scattered all over her face. It dawned on Autumn that the next time she'd see Hermione, she might not even be a Hogwarts student anymore. As she got up, she walked downstairs quietly.

"M-m-morning, Autumn." Tonks said, hair in a short crewcut. "Sleep all right?" Autumn nodded gently, and she ate in quiet while the adults talked about someone named Scrimgeour; her insides felt all messy, and she was dreading the trial. In due time, she and Mr. Weasley felt for the Ministry of Magic's location in London.

It was a tedious trip, if she was being honest. Muggle transportation was not exactly fast - although Mr. Weasley's amusement at it was something - and as such, it took them a while to get there. Stepping into a dilapidated phone booth, Mr. Weasley pulled a small strip of paper fro his pocket, and Autumn watched as he typed in some numbers, and a voice materialized inside the booth.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." Said the anomalous voice, and it gave Autumn chills.

"Arthur Weasley, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, here to escort Autumn Potter, she has been asked to attend a disciplinary hearing with- ooh, okay." He said, cut off as a little badge appeared labelled Autumn Potter, Disciplinary Hearing.

"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium." Said the disembodied voice, and the telephone booth shuddered and seemed to fall, dropping into a hall. "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."

Autumn found the voice _very_ ironic, thank you very much.

The hall was pretty, for what it was worth. A long, beautiful hall with a dark wooden floor that seemed like it had just been polished; a peacock blue ceiling with ever-shifting symbols. Fireplaces - Floo, Autumn assumed - where wizards were emerging and departing. A fountain stood, with golden statues and jets of water. At the end of the hall laid golden gates.

"This way," said Mr. Weasley, and they joined the group, walking through. The Ministry was a blur to the girl-who-lived, something about hurricanes and pay raises; toilets and plumbers; Sirius, stuff about Sirius not that Autumn retained it well. Something about the time of the hearing getting changed, why was it changed she could only guess, and she was there, stressing.

Out of nowhere, she was horribly self-conscious about how she looked. Her hair was longer than it had been at the start of her summer, but it was shorter than she'd like, shorter than the Inextensi had made it. She was still tall, and she suddenly realized how shorter she had been. Did she just grow, or was the potion height-changing; her fingernails were chewed, and she realized she probably wasn't exactly clean-shaven and she felt out of place, wrong, in front of so many pe-

"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," said the voice of Cornelis Fudge. "Into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Interrogators," Fudge said, before pausing for a dashing of grandeur, "Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley-"

"Witness for the defense," said a voice from the end of the hall, oddly quiet yet audible all the same, "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

Indeed, Dumbledore was striding calmly into the room, midnight blue robes complemented both the dark room they were in and the calm expression on his face. All eyes were on him, some terrified, some annoyed, and two elderly witches in the back warmly welcoming him in before being shushed by the other people there. Autumn was scared to try making eye contact with Dumbledore.

Fudge seemed to be his own group as well, surprised more than anything. "Aaah..." He said. "Albus, err, Albus Dumbledore. You, er, got the... you got the memo, of the time and place changing, I presume?"

"No, I didn't," Dumbledore admitted. "Due to a mistake on my behalf, I ended up here almost three hours early; I suppose for the better, so no harm done."

"Aah..." Fudge repeated, "I suppose we’ll need another chair, I, uh, Weasley, cou-"

"Not to worry, not to worry," said Dumbledore pleasantly, taking out his wand, giving it a little flick, and a nice armchair appeared out of nowhere next to Autumn. Dumbledore sat down, and looked at the Wizengamot with interest.

"Yes. Well, then. So. The charges. Yes." Fudge stammered. From the pile in front of him, he grabbed a piece of paper, and started reading it. "The charges against the accused are as follows: That he did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on August the second at twenty-three minutes past nine, which constitutes an offense under paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under section thirteen of the International Confederation of Wizards’ Statute of Secrecy."

"You are Harry James Potter, of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, correct?” Fudge said, glaring at Autumn over the top of his parchment.

Autumn felt her throat close up a little, and she nodded.

"You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"

She nodded, more confident in these words. "Yes, but-"

"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?" said Fudge.

"Yes, but-"

"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside school while you are under the age of seventeen?"

"Yes, but-" Autumn was getting annoyed.

"Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?"

"Yes, bu-

"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?"

"Yes," Autumn started, "but-"

"A Patronus?" came a voice, but not Fudge's, but rather one of the witches to Fudge's left. "A corporeal Patronus?"

"A what?" Autumn asked, blushing.

"More than vapor or a silvery smoke? A clearly defined form?"

"A stag, it's always a stag."

"You've done this before?" Said the witch - Autumn noticed now, the plating in front that read AMELIA BONES - "You've done a corporeal Patronus before?"

"Yes, since my third year."

"You learned this at school?"

"Professor Remus Lupin, because of Hogwarts' dementors." Autumn said. Amelia Bones seemed to consider this silently, as murmurs broke out.

"It's not a question of how impressive it was," said Fudge in a dangerously-testy voice. "In fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given that the boy did it in plain view of a Muggle!"

Some people nodded in agreement, and when Percy Weasley did, that was when Autumn snapped.

"I did it because of the dementors!" she said loudly, before anyone could interrupt her again.

She had expected more muttering, but the silence that fell seemed to be somehow denser than before.

"Dementors?" said Madam Bones after a moment, and suddenly, things seemed like they were going somewhere.

It took Mrs. Figg's testimony, a house-elf's testimony, Mrs. Figg's testimony again, and an excessive amount of bickering - including bickering related to the use of Feminea Inextensi, although Dumbledore had shut down down rather fast pointing out that only a prejudiced argument could come of that 'evidence', to which Fudge stammered and moved on to another useless tidbit - but in the end, Autumn was cleared, the voice landing on 9-10 in her favor - closer than she'd like.

"And now, if that's all, I best be going."

Before Autumn could turn around, he was already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever personal life issues like the ones Autumn's going through come up, I tend to lock up, blind to the world. It's not healthy, but generally when I snap out of it I say something kinda vague like "I'm fine" or "it's nothing" and hope people let it slide. Not proud of it, but with most of Autumn's trans-related issues and the stuff with the Dursleys in play, I needed some sort of reference model.
> 
> As for Mr. Weasley, the way I see it, Autumn being a girl in zero ways effects him or his Muggle technology. Unless her being trans starts to endanger him, his family, or his telly-phones, he doesn't care about any prejudice he might have, she's a girl, it's not that hard. He doesn't get it, not really, but he doesn't get advanced quantum mechanics and he acknowledges that those are valid, so...
> 
> Next chapter will be talking with Hermione, the aftermath of not being expelled, and the departure on the Hogwarts Express. As well as a few surprises...


	16. Train of Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _She got off, she got off, she got of-_

Mr. Weasley was waiting outside the room nervously.

"Dumbledore just left, he didn't tell me anything though, what's the verd-"

"Cleared of all charges!" Autumn said proudly, and Arthur's eyes widened.

"That's awesome, Au-Harry," He had started, cutting himself off as he noticed Wizengamot members filing out of the room. Arthur's eyes followed the council members, seeming mildly surprised. "Merlin's beard, you were tried by the full court?"

"I think so," Autumn said. People filed out, and a few (like Amelia Bones) greeted Arthur, but most (including Fudge, the toadlike witch wearing pastel pinks, and Percy Weasley) seemed to ignore him. Arthur seemed to ignore them back, barring a mild scowl that flickered across his face when he saw Percy.

"I'm going to take you straight back," Arthur said, guiding Autumn to the entrance. "So you can tell the others the good news! I'll drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green, come on."

"So, what, uh..." Autumn had a stupid grin, everything feeling funnier than usual. "So, what will you have to do with the toilet?" She was going back to Hogwarts.

"Oh, it's a relatively simple antijinx," Arthur explained, "the real issue is the reasoning. A Reparo will fix the walls, but wizards keep targeting Muggles. Short of Obliviating the wizards that did it, they'll likely keep trying, but it's the expression of something hateful, and..." Arthur stammered on his words, clearly annoyed. "It's anti-Muggle at the most basic level. As for he Oblivating, I've always been a believer Obliviate is no better than an Unforgivable, but who am I to propose _that_ change."

"What do you mean?" Autumn asked.

"What he means," said a voice that on the surface seemed slick and relaxed, but had a heartless curl to it. "That the Ministry uses Obliviate far too much for them to restrict it."

"Lucius." Arthur said. "Are you-"

"Agreeing with you?" Lucius seemed to confirm, scoffing. "I disagree with Unforgivables as is. The Ministry has the spells available, they should use them. But yes, I'd say Obliviate is just as bad." He turned to face Autumn. "So... Patronus Potter. You really got them wowed."

Autumn looked at Lucius (while Arthur seemed perplexed that Lucius agreed), and she looked at the Death Eater - the death eater walking free, she had seen him wear the mask months prior and-

"The Minister was just telling me about your daring escape, _Mister_ Potter." said Lucius, "Quite astonishing, the way you seem to wriggle out of tight holes. Snakelike, if I had to say.."

"As for you, Arthur, why are you here?"

"I- I work here!" Arthur snapped.

"Here?" Lucius said, before shaking his head. "Oh, yes, yes, second floor? The Muggle artifacts and what not?"

Arthur gave a sharp nod.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Autumn asked.

"I don't think private matters between myself and the Minister are any concern of yours, Potter," said Malfoy. "Really, just because you are Dumbledore’s favorite boy, you must not expect the same indulgence from the rest of us... Shall we go up to your office, then, Minister?"

"Certainly," said Fudge, turning his back on Harry and Arthur "This way, Lucius."

"Why wasn’t he waiting outside Fudge’s office if they’ve got business to do together?" Autumn hissed under her breath, just loud enough for Arthur to hear. "What was he doing down here?"

"Trying to sneak down to the courtroom, if you ask me," Arthur said. "Trying to find out whether you’d been expelled or not. I’ll leave a note for Dumbledore when I drop you off, he ought to know Malfoy’s been talking to Fudge again."

"What private business have they got together anyway?"

"Gold, I expect," said Arthur, anger rising into his voice. "Malfoy’s been giving generously to all sorts of things for years... Gets him in with the right people, then he can ask for favors, delay laws he doesn’t want passed, oh, he’s very well connected, Lucius Malfoy..."

The lift was here, and aside from flying paper memos that followed Arthur, it was empty.

Autumn coudln't help but feel a twinge of worry jolt through her, of what Lucius Malfoy could do to get in the way of her being... well, her. She was so distracted, she barely noticed when she stepped through the Floo.

* * *

Stepping through the Floo, Autumn was greeted to a group of people, including Ron and Hermione. Ron seemed quite bouncy, as though he already knew the outcome; meanwhile, Hermione seemed completely riddled with worry. Autumn noticed there was some other members of the group there, including Sirius - who seemed terrified, likely because of firsthand experience that the system had failed before - , Molly - who was reasonably nervous - , Fred and George - as twins, they had a face that Autumn could neither register as worried nor not worried -, and Ginny - who seemed to have genuine concern, even if it was for the _Boy_ Who Lived.

"Ooh, you're back!" Molly said, looking at the recently-cleared child with the aforementioned worry. "Wh-what happened?"

"Cleared of all charges!" Autumn said proudly, and pandemonium erupted.

"I knew it!" yelled Ron, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"

"T-t-they were bound to clear you," said Hermione, anxiety fading into a stifled excitement. She jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Autumn. "There was no charges and you're coming back to Hogwarts, and," Blushing, she stepped back. "Ooh, we're so happy for you, Autumn!"

"Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering they all knew I’d get off," said Autumn, a grin cracking across her face.

Molly wiped her face on her apron, as Fred and George started cheering a little war dance to the chant of 'she got off, she got off, she got of-"

"That's enough, settle down!" Molly said. Autumn started explaining in depth what happened, both in the trial and with Lucius Malfoy - including another instruction to the twins to stop chanting that _she got off, she got off, she got of_ -, 

Ron and Hermione sat down, opposite of Autumn, looking happier then they had since she had first arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place, and Autumn's relief swelled. The gloomy house was less gloomy, and Autumn was even glad to see Kreacher, no matter how much the house-elf was unhappy to see her.

"'course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you!" Ron said, serving up plates of mashed potatoes.

"Yeah, he swung it for me." Autumn said, resisting the childish urge to complain that he hadn't even looked at Autumn, let alone talked to her. Of course, this thought was quickly diverted for another one of pain.

"Autumn!" Hermione quietly yelped, alarm spreading on her face.

"Scar," Autumn mumbled. "It's nothing, it happens all the time now..." She said, and Hermione looked at her worriedly. Glancing, Ron and Sirius hadn't noticed, from serving food, Molly and Ginny were cooking(?), and the twins were still celebrated the fact that _she got off, she got off, she got of-_ ; so, as such, only Hermione noticed.

"You can talk to me, you know." Hermione said.

"I will, Hermione." Autumn said, "after dinner?" Hermione's eyes widened, and she nodded.

Autumn wasn't sure why she was so worried. But like, she needed to tell someone, mostly because Sirius and Hermione both were getting on her case. At least with Hermione, she was the same age as Autumn and she was Muggle-raised, those were her reasons (she assumed, anyway. She didn't have a concrete reason before the answer, she built the reason around his instinctual answer.) Sirius probably wouldn't have understood as well.

For Hermione, the case was the opposite. Why Autumn was telling her and not Sirius confused her, but she was worried she was going to hear something bad. But, she knew that Autumn maybe just needed a shoulder to cry on or something. Hermione could do that, it wouldn't be hard.

"You know," Ron said, and Autumn and Hermione turned to him. "I bet Dumbledore will show up to celebrate with us!"

"I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," Molly said, "He's really busy at the moment I'd imagin-" she said, before getting distracted by the twins further celebration of that _she got off, she got -_ "And both of you, SHUT UP!" Molly yelled. Anyone who bothered to notice would see the twin's fingers tapping out the rhythm for the remainder of the night.

* * *

"So..." Hermione pulled Autumn into the room they were sharing, and Hermione sat on her bed, facing the girl who lived. "What happened at Privet Drive?"

"I..." Autumn paused. "I don't know why it feels so wrong, it just does. I guess, like..." Autumn stared at her feet a little. She wasn't sure why this was so difficult. She wasn't meant to talk about her home life, but like, it shouldn't be this hard. "I guess, it's just, you and Ron have... well, exceptional parents, really."

Hermione flinched a little, and Autumn looked up. "Mine are, average." Hermione said with a shrug. "But yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are great." Hermione said, looking at Autumn. "Is that it? It feels like more than jealousy."

"I don't know, it's just, like..." Autumn stammered, and Hermione looked sad for a moment, before her eyes widened with an idea.

"How about this? A little like, uh, like comparisons. If it's jealousy, I'll just prove to you that my parents are the same as your aunt and uncle?" Hermione offered, and Autumn paused. That...

"That's... brilliant, actually." Autumn admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck.

"Okay, so, how about this, uh, so how about this. What do your aunt and uncle do when you get good grades?"

Autumn frowned a little. "Generally, they put me back in the cupboard."

There was silence for a second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

"Cupboard?" came the confused response. Autumn raised a confused eyebrow.

"Yeah, like, under the stai-"

"Autumn, what? As in, like, a broom closet?" Hermione asked, and Autumn could see some well of anger rising up.

"I mean, what other kind of cup-" Autumn was suddenly sprung with a hug from Hermione, who started muttering things in line with apologies to Autumn and profanities to the Dursleys.

"Autumn, that's... That's... That's not right." Hermione explained, sitting normally again.

"I mean, yeah, but that's only if I did better than Dudley." Autumn said, quickly clarifying. "My cousin. Their son."

"That's st-that's not, that's..." Hermione stammered. "W-what if you wake up late?"

"They-" Autumn said, pausing. "That hasn't happened in years, now that I think about it." Hermione seemed slightly relieved.

"And when was it last?"

"Before I got my Hogwarts letter, the first one, and back then, my uncle would just bang on the cupboard door, so I never really slept in."

"Why the hell were you in the cupboard?" Hermione asked, anger welling again. "Is that just the go-to punishment?"

"Now it is, before it was my roo-"

"For the love of, oh god, Autumn, I'm so sorry..." She said, hugging her again. "That's... That's..."

"I don't get it, it's not that bad, I mean, maybe it doesn't happen to Ron, but I'm sure that's nor-" Autumn rambled fast-paced.

"That's considered child abuse." Hermione said. And Autumn's rambling stopped.

"B-but? Doesn't ever-"

"I have never heard of a child being locked in the cupboard under the stairs as a bedroom, this is the first. That's not..." Hermione was still hugging, and her grip tightened. "Ooh, Autumn..."

 _I need to make sure she knows she deserves better,_ Hermione thought, and she couldn't help but want to cry on Autumn's behalf.

And that's where six hours (going far past into the night, mind you) went, going over Autumn's childhood, and as the night went on, stories of progressing worry - learning to fix windows, how to hide bruises, knowing where to hide food for later, how the lightning bolt scar was not alone on her body, ho-, Hermione held the girl who lived near.

God help anyone who tried to hurt Autumn Potter on her watch, she decided. She wasn't sure why her face heated up at that moment.

* * *

Over the next little while, everyone seemed to be in a better mood, barring two: The constant argument between Sirius and Remus. Sirius and Remus, who had apparently been sharing a room, spent most of each day arguing, and it seemed like the argument had gotten long past Autumn - something about reckless childhood rivalries, something about doubts and letting Sirius get carted off to Azkaban, something about seeing James where Autumn stood, something about not being careful as a child (which had made Remus storm out with a ghastly magical aura that everyone could feel).

The girl who lived felt horribly guilty for starting it, too. 

"Don't feel guilty, Autumn." Hermione said gently, as Autumn paced around their shared room late one night. "They sound like they've been bottling it up for a while, you just happened to be the, uh, the final straw I guess. And you know Sirius supports you."

It wasn't much relief, but Autumn felt inspired suddenly.

"I'll just interrupt them. Ask them to stop." Autumn said, as though this were legendary. "I mean, Professor Lupin was always pretty... receptive." She stammered on her word for a second, before getting up.

Stepping downstairs, Autumn could hear an argument yet again, and it was Sirius' voices she heard clearly first.

"No, no, Remus, why the hell?" Sirius said, his voice just above a yell.

"You don't get it, Padfoot, you don't!" Remus argued back, and Autumn sighed, slumping against the wall. Remus seemed adamant that this was wrong.

"Why do you care so much? James would have supported Autumn, and you promised!" Sirius argued, and his voice was reaching a sound of anger, a low growl in it.

"I promised to keep Harry safe, not this." Remus said calmly.

"Why do you have such a huge prob-"

"Because I don't see why he wants her life to be hell-on-earth!" Snapped the former professor, and Sirius was quiet. "Because I don't want him to feel like I did. He has Hermione and Ron, and I don't want his life to stagnant over something others just don't understand."

"So what about Tonk-"

"Tonks grew up that way."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Sirius argued.

Remus was calm and quiet for a minute.

"I just don't see why she wants to make her life harder." He finally said, voice breaking, and Autumn felt her chest lock up, as realization sank in.

_He thinks I'm choosing this._

"Rem-" Sirius started. "I-... I..." The heir to the Black throne sounded silent, as Remus continued.

"Dumbledore practically saved me, he gave me a future, friends, an education, any hope of a job, hell, later he gave me the job's salary himself." Remus continued. "How many will do the same for her?"

"But then explain this, don't fucking treat her like a boy sti-"

"'Teach by example, never by words'. Remember our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"Which one?" Sirius said, and Autumn could hear the smug look on his face.

"Capricorn, third year." Remus said, before adding, "I went into my own Defense class with that, and now I'm trying to help Autumn with that."

"It's not a choice, Remus."

"How is it not?"

"You try suppressing Moony. Tell me how much say you get in that each month."

That got Remus to be quiet.

Autumn finally got the courage up, and started knocking on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaslighting is a serious thing. Remember that Ron and Hermione were Harry/Autumn's (this applies in both canon and Feminea) first friends; and as FAR as I can tell, the way the Dursleys treat them isn't discussed with friends. It's not exactly a surprise to anyone that are less than ideal, but I'd go as far to say the Dursleys were outright abusing their nephew/niece.
> 
> In canon, Harry never discusses it, even after the trial where you'd think it'd come up. And no teacher ever seems to comment on the "The Cupboard Under The Stairs, 4 Privet Drive". By the time Hagrid arrives, Harry's been moved from his cupboard, and by the time Sirius is nearly rescued during PoA, Sirius was likely distracted and forgot that a 13-year old boy who has just met him sprung at the chance to live with a convicted criminal you just learned was innocent with a known violent streak over his current guardians.
> 
> I hope it comes as a surprise to no one reading this, if you were raised in a cupboard under the stairs, there is a VERY high chance you were abused. If it does, please, please, get some treatment or something. That's not healthy, and I want you to get better.
> 
> As for Autumn though, she's more open, more at-peace with herself, dysphoria and bigotry aside; I would know, this happened with me. So the idea that she opens up to Hermione isn't a surprise. Similarly, Autumn isn't sure how to vocalize the issue, since to Autumn, normal is "locked under the stairs", exceptional is "doesn't do that". So, of course Autumn will believe that the grades punishment is non-chalant.
> 
> AS FOR REMUS "MOONY" LUPIN, he's trying. He didn't get it, he thought it was a choice, and as much as he wanted to respect it, he didn't want Autumn to throw her life away. He knows all too well that the life in any type of minority is rough. (Hell, I've put in Remus in two, making him gay, since I ship him with Sirius but-) He doesn't want Autumn to suffer. He just was getting one part wrong.
> 
> Remus is an ally, he's just not exactly receptive enough at times to realize his goof. He's the teacher, and he may listen, but sometimes everyone gets a stick up their ass.
> 
> See you all soon!


	17. Prefects and Promises

Autumn's hand rapped the door softly, and Sirius went silent.

The door clicked open, and Autumn stepped into the two Marauder's shared room.

It was a wreck. The bed was clearly going unused, there was pictures having fallen or damaged, a nightstand was flipped, some magical lamp was shattered in pieces across a wall. The only thing in the whole room that was untouched as a simple picture of James, Sirius, and Remus (with a fourth spot that was folded behind the rest of the picture. Autumn assumed it was Peter being folded out of sight.)

"So..." Remus said. "How much did you hear?" It wasn't a question, but a chance to admit.

"E-enough." Autumn stammered. Sirius looked at Remus.

"You knew she was there?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"I didn't think she was eavesdropping, but I have good hearing. You should know this by now, Sirius."

Autumn walked over to the bed, sitting on a small patch that seemed clean enough.

"So..." Sirius trailed.

"I'm sorry." Remus said. "I've been..."

"Trying." Autumn interrupted. "I... I forgive you, Professor Lupin." She looked at him, and she could see that he seemed surprised. "You cared."

"I just..." Remus stammered his words. "Look, I... I promised James that I would keep you safe. I just... I don't understand."

"Sirius explained it pretty well, I think." Autumn said, and she noticed Sirius gently stepping out the door. _This is a private moment,_ Sirius thought.

"I've been terrible," Remus said. "And I hope we can... we can make amends? Go back to how things were before I turned downright awful?"

"We can." Autumn said, and she got up. Before Remus processed things, she had wrapped her arms around him, hugging the former professor. He hugged her back gently, awkwardly, and when they seperated, they fell into giggles.

"Me and James never figured out how to hug properly, glad to see that hasn't changed." Remus joked, chuckling. "Ooh, and call me Remus. I'm not your professor anymore."

"Call me Autumn." She said, and Remus nodded. And it seemed like things were back to normal.

She was glad.

* * *

On August 31st, the final day before the school year resumed, was when the owls with the school letters arrived. Autumn grabbed the letters, having just finished cleaning Hedwig's cage.

"Booklists arrived," she said to Hermione, before adding, "It's strange they arrived this late."

"It really is," Hermione said, opening hers. "And th- there's only two news books?"

" _The Standard Book of Spell, Grade Five_ by Miranda Goshawk; and _Defensive Magical Theory_ by Wilbert Slinkhar-"

A crack sound threw her off balance. Indeed, Fred and George seemed to have Apparated right between them, and Autumn didn't even seem startled. (Hermione very much was, swearing profanities at the twins.)

"We were just wondering who assigned the Slinkhard book," Fred decided to say casually, as though he didn't just teleport into the conversation.

"Because it means Dumbledore found a new Defense teacher." George added.

"And 'bout time, too." added Fred once more.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, as Autumn read her letter.

"Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few weeks back," Fred told Hermione, "and from what they were saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year."

"Not surprising, is it, when you look at what’s happened to the last four?" quipped George.

"Professor Quirrell died, Professor Lockhart had his memory wiped, Professor Lupin was sacked, and Professor Moody was locked in an expanding trunk for nine months..." Hermione trailed, before suddenly Autumn froze up. Hermione turned to her.

"What is it, Autumn?"

"I-I-..." Autumn stammered, and she shakingly handed over her envelope to Hermione. Or tried. Instead, she dropped it, and sliding from it was a scarlet and gold badge. It was a red and gold badge with the Gryffindor lion, and a shiny golden P pressed on it. It was the same badge Percy had worn years early... And he had been a Prefect at the time.

"Ooh, Autumn! That's amazing!" Hermione said proudly, rushing over and hugging Autumn. "I'm glad it's you! Ooh, I wonder who the boy prefect is?"

"Maybe it'll be ickle Ronnekins," Fred quipped.

"Ooh, it will be." George said, doing mental math. "He's the only choice, isn't he? Oooh, mum will be revolting."

"Should we go bug hi-"

"Huh?" Hermione asked, and it snapped the twins from their bickering. "What the hell is in mi-OW!"

Hermione had tried to open her letter, but it slipped, and an identical red and gold badge fell from the envelope and seemingly hit her toes hard.

The twins looked at each other, and Autumn looked at Hermione.

"Did he just...?" Fred said, realization dawning.

"That old sod." George muttered.

"Huh? But..." Hermione said. "I don't get it, there's only supposed to be one gi-" She froze, realizing what had happened.

Hermione was the girl prefect. And Autumn was the boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, the next chapter is taking forever, but I have a good reason. And also why I re-bumped this.
> 
> I am currently plotting a chapter-by-chapter plotline for the story, all the specific beats, when they'll happen, what leads up to them. I am going to make edits to previous chapters to accomodate this (as well as edits to make the story better), and overall, this story's planning phase is nearly done.
> 
> I am so sorry, but once this is done, the story will be super smooth sailing from here. Smooth as butter. Smooth as frozen butter on polished metal balanced on top of a floating hockey puck.
> 
> ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, I am _finally_ about to introduce Luna, reintroduce Draco, and (unlikable she may be) introduce Dolores Umbridge, High Inquisitor.


	18. With All Due Respect [Editor's Note]

> To my kind ~~editor~~ reader,
> 
> It has come to my attention that Chapter 18 (which is currently still unnamed) has yet to be published. This is a rather long break, and I am aware.
> 
> I am posting this to inform you that starting immediately, I will be revisiting older chapters and rewriting them, trying to improve them. I am completely aware this has been slow, but I promise, it'll be worth it.
> 
> I currently have the chapter-by-chapter breakdown of a huge chunk of the story blocked out, and I can even faithfully say that Order of the Phoenix will be finished by chapter 43. Additionally, I am planning many changes, including some of the bigger ones to plot divergence and preparing for Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows.
> 
> However, the older chapters aren't a quality that I am satisfied with, so please be aware that previous chapters will be updated as time goes on, leading up to Chapter 18's actual publication shortly after the _Chapter 17: Prefects and Promises_ update.
> 
> I am sorry. Hopefully though, this will create a story that will be worth reading, more enjoyable, and more enjoyable overall.
> 
> With all due respect,
> 
> TheHigherDissidency.


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